The Komesaroff machine is a low-flow, closed-circle circuit with a low
resistance vaporiser, of the Goldman type, in circuit,,This trial ass
essed the mechanical consistency of the delivery of isoflurane by the
vaporisers, and used six dogs to compare the in vivo cardiorespiratory
effects of the anaesthetic agent delivered by the Komesaroff machine
with the effects of a circle system with high flows in the semi-closed
mode. The delivery of isoflurane was constant for each vaporiser sett
ing and no potentially dangerous concentrations of isoflurane were obs
erved. The mean (sem) percentages of isoflurane were 0.18 (0.019) at s
etting I, 1.46 (0.055) at setting II, 3.12 (0.066) at setting III and
3.01 (0.047) at setting IV. There were no significant differences betw
een the two types of circuit in vivo, and the measured haemodynamic va
riables were satisfactory throughout the experiments.