BACKGROUND Xenon has only minimal haemodynamic side-effects on normal myocardium and might be a preferable anaesthetic agent for patients with heart failure. We studied the haemodynamic changes caused by 70% xenon in rabbits with chronically compromised left ventricular (LV) function. METHODS Anaesthetized rabbits were thoracotomized and a major coronary artery was ligated to induce ischaemic...

BACKGROUND Perinatal hypoxia-ischemia causes significant morbidity and mortality. Xenon and sevoflurane may be used as inhalational analgesics for labor. Therefore, the authors investigated the potential application of these agents independently and in combination to attenuate perinatal injury. METHODS Oxygen-glucose deprivation injury was induced in pure neuronal or neuronal-glial cocultures...

We report the preparation of neutron-activated xenon for the calibration of liquid xenon (LXe) detectors. Gamma rays from the decay of xenon metastable states, produced by fast neutron activation, were detected and their activities measured in a LXe scintillation detector. Following a five-day activation of natural xenon gas with a Cf (4× 10 n/s) source, the activities of two gamma ray lines at...

Xenon-enhanceed cranial computed tomography (CT) was used to derive the partition coefficient (lambda) and flow rate constant (kappa) and thus provide a functional neuroanatomic map of local cerebral blood flow in eight nonhuman primates. Sequential CT imaging defined the temporal changes of xenon concentration in arterial blood and brain tissue both during and after xenon inhalation. Several m...

Analyses of xenon from well gas rich in carbon dioxide reveal a large excess of radiogenic xenon-129 from the decay of extinct iodine-129. Smaller excesses observed in the heavy xenon isotopes are from fission. These results place narrow limits on any age difference between the earth and the oldest meteorites. The occurrence of excess radiogenic xenon-129 in well gas also suggests that any quan...

A new approach to MRI thermometry using encapsulated hyperpolarized xenon is demonstrated. The method is based on the temperature dependent chemical shift of hyperpolarized xenon in a cryptophane-A cage. This shift is linear with a slope of 0.29 ppm °C(-1) which is perceptibly higher than the shift of the proton resonance frequency of water (ca. 0.01 ppm °C(-1)) that is currently used for MRI t...

BACKGROUND To date, only limited data exist about the use of xenon as an anaesthetic agent in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. The favourable cardio- and neuroprotective properties of xenon might attenuate postoperative complications, improve outcome, and reduce the incidence of delirium. Thus, the aims of this study were to investigate the feasibility and safety of balanced xenon anaesthes...

Cerebral Circulation Studies Using Inhaled 133-Xenon and the Gamma Camera • Inhaled 133-xenon was utilized in conjunction with the Anger gamma scintillation camera to evaluate cerebral circulation in 20 asymptomatic control subjects and in 41 patients with clinical cerebrovascular disease. Sequental cerebral scintiphotos thus obtained revealed focal areas of decreased activity in 2 of 19 contro...

Xenon and radon have many similar properties, a difference being that all 35 isotopes of radon ((195)Rn-(229)Rn) are radioactive. Radon is a pervasive indoor air pollutant believed to cause significant incidence of lung cancer in many geographic regions, yet radon affinity for a discrete molecular species has never been determined. By comparison, the chemistry of xenon has been widely studied a...

We have compared the analgesic potency of MAC-equivalent concentrations of xenon (10, 20, 30 and 40%) and nitrous oxide (15, 30, 45 and 60%) in humans using a multimodal experimental pain testing and assessment technique. We tested 12 healthy volunteers in a randomized, single-blind, crossover study. The following experimental pain tests were used: nociceptive reflex to repeated stimuli; pain t...