Sister-chromatid exchanges in anesthetists

A number of reports indicate that waste anesthetic gases (AG) that are ambient in the operation theater (OT) are responsible for producing effects in anesthetists like headaches, dizziness, nausea, heart and liver diseases, cancer as well as poor obstetric history for the female staff.
To evaluate the presence or absence of genotoxicity. Because sister-chromatid exchanges (SCE) are sensitive indicators of exposure to mutagens, the blood of 51 anesthetists and 51 stringently matched controls were cultured and harvested and analyzed.
(1) Descriptive statistics - mean, range and standard deviation. (2) Inferential statistical procedures: (a) univariate procedures and (b) multivariate procedures (step-wise multiple regression analysis). The results showed a significantly higher level of SCE (7.68 ± 2.03/cell) in anesthetists when compared to that of controls (5.78 ± 1.23/cell), demonstrating that a genotoxic effect is present.
There is a strong case for installing scavenging devices and leak-proof apparatus in the OT to lower the level of ambient AG, because the health of all OT staff is at risk.

Keywords
Anesthetic gases, Anesthetists, Genotoxicity, Sister-chromatid exchanges