Avertin

AVERTIN (E 107), Avertin, tribromoethanol, a white powder with a melting point of 80°, soluble in water at 37°. It is used for anesthesia by introduction into the rectum; it causes a calm sleep with loss of pain sensitivity after 10-15 minutes. It acts by the bromine group (analogous to bromoethane). Advantages over chloroform-ether anesthesia: absence of psychic shock, easy postoperative course (absence of vomiting, asphyxia, bronchitis, pneumonia), convenience of operating on the face, in the larynx, in pediatric practice, in orthopedics, etc. Contraindications: diseases of the rectum and liver. Dosage: it is introduced into the rectum in a 2^g/_g% aqueous solution (t° 40°) in adults 0.08-0.1 per kilogram of weight, in children the whole dose 0.1-0.15. Heating the solution above 45° causes toxic decomposition. The drug is currently in the stage of preliminary clinical study. It has not yet been found in free sale.