Methoxyflurane, sold under the brand name Penthrox among others, is an inhaled medication primarily used to reduce pain following trauma.[5][6] It may also be used for short episodes of pain as a result of medical procedures.[4] Onset of pain relief is rapid and of a short duration.[4] Use is only recommended with direct medical supervision.[5]
It was first made in 1948 by William T. Miller and came into medical use in the 1960s.[7] It was used as a general anesthetic from its introduction in 1960 until the late 1970s.[8] In 1999, the manufacturer discontinued methoxyflurane in the United States, and in 2005 the Food and Drug Administration withdrew it from the market.[8] It is still used in New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, and the United Kingdom for pain.[9][4][10][5][11]
Medical use
Methoxyflurane is used for relief of moderate or severe pain as a result of trauma.[6][5] It may also be used for short episodes of pain as a result of procedures.[4]
Each dose lasts approximately 30 minutes.[12] Pain relief begins after 6–8 breaths and continues for several minutes after stopping inhalation.[13] The maximum recommended dose is 6 milliliters per day or 15 milliliters per week because of the risk of kidney problems, and it is not recommended to be used on consecutive days.[4] Despite the potential for kidney problems when used at anesthetic doses, no significant adverse effects have been reported when it is used at the lower doses (up to 6 milliliters) used for pain relief.[14][15][16] Due to the risk of kidney toxicity, methoxyflurane is contraindicated in people with pre-existing kidney disease or diabetes mellitus, and is not recommended to be administered in conjunction with tetracyclines or other potentially nephrotoxic or enzyme-inducing drugs.[15]
It is self-administered to children and adults using a hand-held inhaler device.[17][14][18][15] A non-opioid alternative to morphine, it is also easier to use than nitrous oxide.[4] A portable, disposable, single-use inhaler device, along with a single 3 milliliter brown glass vial of methoxyflurane allows people who are conscious and hemodynamically stable (including children over the age of 5 years) to self-administer the medication, under supervision.[4]
In prehospital care Penthrox offers an alternative to Entonox, it being smaller, lighter and not contraindicated with chest injuries.[19]
The consensus is that the use of methoxyflurane should be restricted only to healthy individuals, in situations where it offers specific advantages and even then, only at dosages less than 2.5 MAC hours.[20][21] The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health maintains a recommended exposure limit for methoxyflurane as waste anesthetic gas of 2 ppm (13.5 mg/m3) over 60 minutes.[22]
Kidney
The first report of nephrotoxicity appeared in 1964, when Paddock and colleagues reported three cases of acute kidney injury, two of whom were found to have calcium oxalate crystals in the renal tubules at autopsy.[23] In 1966, Crandell and colleagues reported a series in which 17/95 (18%) of patients developed an unusual type of nephropathy after operations in which methoxyflurane was used as a general anesthetic. This particular type of chronic kidney disease was characterized by vasopressin-resistant high-output kidney failure (production of large volumes of poorly concentrated urine) with a negative fluid balance, pronounced weight loss, elevation of serum sodium, chloride, osmolality and blood urea nitrogen. The urine of these patients was of a relatively fixed specific gravity and an osmolality very similar to that of the serum. Furthermore, the high urine output persisted a challenge test of fluid deprivation. Most cases resolved within 2–3 weeks, but evidence of renal dysfunction persisted for more than one year in 3 of these 17 cases (18%), and more than two years in one case (6%).[24]
Compared with halothane, methoxyflurane produces dose-dependent abnormalities in kidney function. The authors showed that subclinical nephrotoxicity occurred following methoxyflurane at minimum alveolar concentration (MAC) for 2.5 to 3 hours (2.5 to 3 MAC hours), while overt toxicity was present in all patients at dosages greater than five MAC hours.[20] This study provided a model that would be used for the assessment of the nephrotoxicity of volatile anesthetics for the next two decades.[25] Furthermore, the concurrent use of tetracyclines and methoxyflurane has been reported to result in fatal renal toxicity.[26]
Liver
Reports of severe and even fatal hepatotoxicity related to the use of methoxyflurane began to appear in 1966.
Mechanism
The biodegradation of methoxyflurane begins immediately. The kidney and liver toxicity observed after anesthetic doses is attributable to one or more metabolites produced by O-demethylation of methoxyflurane. Products of this catabolic process include methoxyfluoroacetic acid (MFAA), dichloroacetic acid (DCAA), and inorganic fluoride.[21] Methoxyflurane nephrotoxicity is dose dependent[24][27][28] and irreversible, resulting from O-demethylation of methoxyflurane to fluoride and DCAA.[4] It is not entirely clear whether the fluoride itself is toxic—it may simply be a surrogate measure for some other toxic metabolite.[29] The concurrent formation of inorganic fluoride and DCAA is unique to methoxyflurane biotransformation compared with other volatile anesthetics, and this combination is more toxic than fluoride alone. This may explain why fluoride formation from methoxyflurane is associated with nephrotoxicity, while fluoride formation from other volatile anesthetics (such as enflurane and sevoflurane) is not.[30]
Pharmacokinetics
Methoxyflurane has a very high lipid solubility (oil:gas partition coefficient of around 950), which gives it very slow pharmacokinetics[citation needed] (induction and emergence characteristics); this being undesirable for routine application in the clinical setting. Initial studies performed in 1961 revealed that in unpremedicated healthy individuals, induction of general anesthesia with methoxyflurane-oxygen alone or with nitrous oxide was difficult or even impossible using the vaporizers available at that time. It was found to be necessary to administer an intravenous anesthetic agent such as sodium thiopental to ensure a smooth and rapid induction. It was further found that after thiopental induction, it was necessary to administer nitrous oxide for at least ten minutes before a sufficient amount of methoxyflurane could accumulate in the bloodstream to ensure an adequate level of anesthesia. This was despite using high flow (litres per minute) of nitrous oxide and oxygen, and with the vaporizers delivering the maximum possible concentration of methoxyflurane.[31]
Similar to its induction pharmacokinetics, methoxyflurane has very slow and somewhat unpredictable emergence characteristics. During initial clinical studies in 1961, the average time to emergence after discontinuation of methoxyflurane was 59 minutes after administration of methoxyflurane for an average duration of 87 minutes. The longest time to emergence was 285 minutes, after 165 minutes of methoxyflurane administration.[31]
Unlike diethyl ether, methoxyflurane is a significant respiratory depressant. In dogs, methoxyflurane causes a dose-dependent decrease in respiratory rate and a marked decrease in respiratory minute volume, with a relatively mild decrease in tidal volume. In humans, methoxyflurane causes a dose-dependent decrease in tidal volume and minute volume, with respiratory rate relatively constant.[32] The net effect of these changes is profound respiratory depression, as evidenced by CO2 retention with a concomitant decrease in arterial pH (this is referred to as a respiratory acidosis) when anesthetized subjects are allowed to breathe spontaneously for any length of time.[31]
Pain
Although the high blood solubility of methoxyflurane is often undesirable, this property makes it useful in certain situations—it persists in the lipid compartment of the body for a long time, providing sedation and analgesia well into the postoperative period.[37][32] There is substantial data to indicate that methoxyflurane is an effective analgesic and sedative agent at subanesthetic doses.[17][14][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48] Supervised self-administration of methoxyflurane in children and adults can briefly lead to deep sedation,[14] and it has been used as a patient controlled analgesic for painful procedures in children in hospital emergency departments.[18] During childbirth, administration of methoxyflurane produces significantly better analgesia, less psychomotor agitation, and only slightly more somnolence than trichloroethylene.[40]
Penthrox, commonly known as the "green whistle", has been offered in hospital to women for painful intrauterine device procedures (insertion and removal).[49]
The carbon–fluorine bond, a component of all organofluorine compounds, is the strongest chemical bond in organic chemistry.[60] Furthermore, this bond becomes shorter and stronger as more fluorine atoms are added to the same carbon on a given molecule. Because of this, fluoroalkanes are some of the most chemically stable organic compounds.
Obstacles had to be overcome in the handling of both fluorine and UF6. Before the K-25 gaseous diffusion enrichment plant could be built, it was first necessary to develop non-reactivechemical compounds that could be used as coatings, lubricants and gaskets for the surfaces which would come into contact with the UF6 gas (a highly reactive and corrosive substance). William T. Miller,[70] professor of organic chemistry at Cornell University, was co-opted to develop such materials, because of his expertise in organofluorine chemistry. Miller and his team developed several novel non-reactive chlorofluorocarbonpolymers that were used in this application.
Miller and his team continued to develop organofluorine chemistry after the end of World War II and methoxyflurane was made in 1948.[71]
In 1968, Robert Wexler of Abbott Laboratories developed the Analgizer, a disposable inhaler that allowed the self-administration of methoxyflurane vapor in air for analgesia.[72] The Analgizer consisted of a polyethylene cylinder 5 inches long and 1 inch in diameter with a 1 inch long mouthpiece. The device contained a rolled wick of polypropylenefelt which held 15 milliliters of methoxyflurane. Because of the simplicity of the Analgizer and the pharmacological characteristics of methoxyflurane, it was easy for patients to self-administer the drug and rapidly achieve a level of conscious analgesia which could be maintained and adjusted as necessary over a period of time lasting from a few minutes to several hours. The 15 milliliter supply of methoxyflurane would typically last for two to three hours, during which time the user would often be partly amnesic to the sense of pain; the device could be refilled if necessary.[43] The Analgizer was found to be safe, effective, and simple to administer in obstetric patients during childbirth, as well as for patients with bone fractures and joint dislocations,[43] and for dressing changes on burn patients.[42] When used for labor analgesia, the Analgizer allows labor to progress normally and with no apparent adverse effect on Apgar scores.[43] All vital signs remain normal in obstetric patients, newborns, and injured patients.[43] The Analgizer was widely utilized for analgesia and sedation until the early 1970s, in a manner that foreshadowed the patient-controlled analgesia infusion pumps of today.[40][41][44][45] The Analgizer inhaler was withdrawn in 1974, but use of methoxyflurane as a sedative and analgesic continues in Australia and New Zealand in the form of the Penthrox inhaler.[17][14][18][15] During 2020 trials of methoxyflurane as an analgesic in emergency medicine were held in the UK.[73]
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^ abDragon A, Goldstein I (November 1967). "Methoxyflurane: preliminary report on analgesic and mood-modifying properties in dentistry". Journal of the American Dental Association. 75 (5): 1176–1181. doi:10.14219/jada.archive.1967.0358. PMID5233333.
^ abJosephson CA, Schwartz W (February 1974). "The Cardiff inhaler and penthrane. A method of sedation-analgesia in routine dentistry". The Journal of the Dental Association of South Africa = die Tydskrif van die Tandheelkundige Vereniging van Suid-Afrika. 29 (2): 77–80. PMID4534883.
^Lewis LA (February 1984). "Methoxyflurane analgesia for office surgery. Surgical gem". The Journal of Dermatologic Surgery and Oncology. 10 (2): 85–86. doi:10.1111/j.1524-4725.1984.tb01191.x. PMID6693612.
^Komesaroff D (1995). "Pre-hospital pain relief: Penthrane or Entonox". Australian Journal of Emergency Care. 2 (2): 28–9. ISSN1322-3127.
^Chin R, McCaskill M, Browne G, Lam L (2002). "A randomised controlled trial of inhaled methoxyflurane pain relief in children with upper limb fracture (abstract)". Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health. 38 (5): A13–4. doi:10.1046/j.1440-1754.2002.00385.x. ISSN1034-4810.
^Mihic SJ, Ye Q, Wick MJ, Koltchine VV, Krasowski MD, Finn SE, et al. (September 1997). "Sites of alcohol and volatile anaesthetic action on GABA(A) and glycine receptors". Nature. 389 (6649): 385–389. Bibcode:1997Natur.389..385M. doi:10.1038/38738. PMID9311780. S2CID4393717.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: overridden setting (link)
^ abMazze RI, Shue GL, Jackson SH (1971). "Renal Dysfunction Associated With Methoxyflurane Anesthesia". Journal of the American Medical Association. 216 (2): 278–288. doi:10.1001/jama.1971.03180280032006. S2CID10549698.
^O'Hagan D (February 2008). "Understanding organofluorine chemistry. An introduction to the C-F bond". Chemical Society Reviews. 37 (2): 308–319. doi:10.1039/b711844a. PMID18197347.
^Sneader (2005), Sneader W, Chapter 8: Systematic medicine, pp. 74–87
^DuPont (2010). "Roy Plunkett: 1938". DuPont Heritage. Wilmington, Delaware: E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. Archived from the original on 17 February 2012. Retrieved 12 June 2011.
^Cotton (2006), Cotton S, Chapter 10: Binary compounds of the actinides, pp. 155–72
^Rhodes (1986), Rhodes R, Chapter 11: Cross sections, pp. 318–56