| Welcome to The New Coffee Room. We hope you enjoy your visit. You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
| Why Surgeons Dread Redheads | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: Dec 13 2010, 07:41 PM (273 Views) | |
| George K | Dec 13 2010, 07:41 PM Post #1 |
|
Finally
|
Why Surgeons Dread Redheads
"redheads appear to need more anesthetic than others." I remember hearing about this back in the late 70's as an anecdote and dismissing it. Then, when studies came out, I was humbled. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1362956/ From 2006: Background: Age and body temperature alter inhalational anesthetic requirement; however, no human genotype is associated with inhalational anesthetic requirement. There is an anecdotal impression that anesthetic requirement is increased in redheads. Furthermore, red hair results from distinct mutations of the melanocortin-1 receptor. We thus tested the hypothesis that the requirement for the volatile anesthetic desflurane is greater in natural redhead than in dark-haired women. Methods: We studied healthy women with bright red (n=10) or dark (n=10) hair. Blood was sampled for subsequent analyses of melanocortin-1 receptor alleles. Anesthesia was induced with sevoflurane and maintained with desflurane randomly set at an end-tidal concentration between 5.5 and 7.5%. After an equilibration period, a noxious electrical stimulation (100 Hz, 70 mA) was transmitted through bilateral intradermal needles. If the volunteer moved in response to stimulation, desflurane was increased by 0.5%; otherwise it was decreased by 0.5%. This was continued until volunteers crossed-over from movement to non-movement (or vice versa) four times. Individual logistic regression curves were used to determine desflurane requirement (P50). Desflurane requirements in the two groups were compared using Mann-Whitney nonparametric two-sample test; P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The desflurane requirement in redheads (6.2 volume-percent [95% CI, 5.9 - 6.5]) was significantly greater than in dark-haired women (5.2 volume-percent [4.9 5.5], P = 0.0004). Nine of 10 redheads were either homozygous or compound heterozygotes for mutations on the melanocortin-1 receptor gene. Conclusions: Red hair appears to be a distinct phenotype linked to anesthetic requirement in humans that can also be traced to a specific genotype. |
|
A guide to GKSR: Click "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08 Nothing is as effective as homeopathy. I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles. - Klaus, 4/29/18 | |
![]() |
|
| Larry | Dec 13 2010, 08:02 PM Post #2 |
![]()
Mmmmmmm, pie!
|
I can attest to that. Blondes require two glasses of wine. Brunettes require around 4 tequilas. Redheads require a bottle of wine, a fifth of tequila, and 3 taps on the head with a stick... |
|
Of the Pokatwat Tribe | |
![]() |
|
| George K | Dec 13 2010, 08:07 PM Post #3 |
|
Finally
|
See? SEE???? |
|
A guide to GKSR: Click "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08 Nothing is as effective as homeopathy. I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles. - Klaus, 4/29/18 | |
![]() |
|
| bachophile | Dec 14 2010, 01:11 AM Post #4 |
|
HOLY CARP!!!
|
never noticed this. but i did once have a female redheaded resident whom i wanted to strangle on countless occasions. |
| "I don't know much about classical music. For years I thought the Goldberg Variations were something Mr. and Mrs. Goldberg did on their wedding night." Woody Allen | |
![]() |
|
| apple | Dec 14 2010, 04:00 AM Post #5 |
|
one of the angels
|
i always wanted red hair |
| it behooves me to behold | |
![]() |
|
| RosemaryTwo | Dec 14 2010, 04:21 AM Post #6 |
|
HOLY CARP!!!
|
Good to know. I am the medical first responder to a few redheads on a regular basis. |
| "Perhaps the thing to do is just to let stupid run its course." Aqua | |
![]() |
|
![]() Our users say it best: "Zetaboards is the best forum service I have ever used." Learn More · Register Now |
|
| « Previous Topic · The New Coffee Room · Next Topic » |








11:04 AM Jul 11