Xenon

Also known as Xe (element 54) · Noble gas anaesthetic · Inert gas anaesthetic · Lowest blood-gas coefficient agent · NMDA-antagonist inhalational agent

Xenon for the fellowship exams: a noble-gas anaesthetic with a measured blood-gas partition coefficient of 0.115, a MAC of about 63–71% in adults (sex-dependent in the elderly), noncompetitive NMDA-receptor inhibition, no malignant hyperthermia triggering in susceptible swine, and trial evidence on haemodynamics, delirium and neonatal neuroprotection. High manufacturing and scavenging cost limits use.

medium17 referencesUpdated 23 Oct 20264 min readSource-verified · Oct 2026

Checked against its sources on 23 Oct 2026

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12 MCQs

Meet the patient

A colleague asks you in a viva why xenon, discovered in 1898 and known to be anaesthetic since 1939, is not used every day. The answer the review gives is cost: xenon is used mainly in Europe, and the high price of manufacturing and scavenging the noble gas has discouraged wider use.^[17]

References17Show

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[11]Al Tmimi L, et al. Xenon anaesthesia for patients undergoing off-pump coronary artery bypass graft surgery: a prospective randomized controlled pilot trial Br J Anaesth, 2015.PMID 26385664
[12]Azzopardi D, et al. Moderate hypothermia within 6 h of birth plus inhaled xenon versus moderate hypothermia alone after birth asphyxia (TOBY-Xe): a proof-of-concept, open-label, randomised controlled trial Lancet Neurol, 2016.PMID 26708675
[13]Goto T, Suwa K, Uezono S, et al. The blood-gas partition coefficient of xenon may be lower than generally accepted. British journal of anaesthesia, 1998.PMID 9602599
[14]Nakata Y, Goto T, Ishiguro Y, et al. Minimum alveolar concentration (MAC) of xenon with sevoflurane in humans. Anesthesiology, 2001.PMID 11379681
[15]Goto T, Nakata Y, Morita S The minimum alveolar concentration of xenon in the elderly is sex-dependent. Anesthesiology, 2002.PMID 12411796
[16]Froeba G, Marx T, Pazhur J, et al. Xenon does not trigger malignant hyperthermia in susceptible swine. Anesthesiology, 1999.PMID 10519508
[17]Jordan BD, Wright EL Xenon as an anesthetic agent. AANA journal, 2010.PMID 21067086