Hepatic Necrosis Associated with Halothane Anesthesia

Abstract

HALOTHANE, or 2-bromo,2-chloro-1,1,1-trifluoroethane (Fluothane), was introduced for clinical use as an anesthetic agent in 1956 and has since enjoyed enormous and ever increasing popularity because of its pharmacologic properties and its safety as a nonexplosive agent. An extensive literature on the use of this agent has accumulated and has recently been summarized in a monograph by Sadove and Wallace.¹ Varying degrees of hepatic injury, usually mild, and with fatty degeneration as the most commonly reported change, have been noted after prolonged administration of halothane to animals.^{2 3 4} Several groups of investigators considered hepatic toxicity in man with this agent to be . . .