The measurement of volatile anaesthetic agents by infrared absorption
is liable to interference by other gases which absorb infrared light.
In particular, nitrous oxide may, in principle, interfere with the mea
surement of desflurane. On the other hand, the refractometer should be
immune to such effects. We demonstrated that interactions may occur b
etween desflurane and nitrous oxide with some gas analysers and that t
he refractometer remains a useful instrument.