Low flow anesthesia is a technique that is being increasingly adopted in practice thanks to its numerous advantages. Using this method, the patient is supplied with a reduced flow of fresh gas (oxygen mixed with air or nitrous oxide N2O), while the exhaled gases are recycled and reused.
By minimizing the amount of gas consumed and wasted, low flow anesthesia offers numerous benefits such as cost savings, environmental impact reduction, stable anesthetic levels for safety and temperature/humidity preservation. It also minimizes exposure to volatile agents, enhancing patient care, cost-effectiveness and environmental sustainability.
In low flow anesthesia (also known as minimal flow anesthesia), the fresh gas flow rate is as low as 200–300ml/min and must have an oxygen concentration accuracy within 5% by volume. Achieving this gas mixing accuracy requires exceptional flow sensor performance, especially around zero, as minor offset or non-linearity errors are significant at these low flow rates.
The SFM4300 flow sensor has been optimized to specifically fulfill these stringent accuracy and performance requirements.
