• General anesthesia suppresses central nervous system activity and results in unconsciousness and total lack of sensation.
• Sedation (or dissociative anesthesia) inhibits transmission of nerve impulses between the cerebral cortex and limbic system, which inhibits both anxiety and creation of long term memories.
• Regional or local anesthesia, blocks transmission of nerve impulses between a targeted part of the body and the spinal cord, which causes loss of sensation in the targeted body part.

During general anesthesia the patient is intubated via an endotracheal tube (ET– tube). The tube is connected to an anesthesia machine to provide air and anesthesia gases. When an ET-tube is inserted, one bypasses the trachea and upper airways, thus minimizes the opportunity to provide important heat and moisture to the respiratory system.
This could be corrected by adding a passive humidifier i.e. and heat & moisture exchanger (HME).

HME’s are an easy and low cost way to provide adequate humidification. There is also less risk for cross contamination.

An HME could be used up to 24 hours or be changed in between patients, so they are efficient also for longer surgery cases. They provide both passive humidification the natural way, i.e. from the patient back to the patient, as well as warmth, to prevent hypothermia.

In most cases the HME’s are combined with an effective bacterial/viral filter thus protects not only the machine, patient and staff but also the Y-piece and breathing circuits form cross contamination.

Pharma Systems have a large variety of HME’s in different sizes and for different functions. There are also different breathing filters and combinations of the both.

For further information please see product specification page.