A debate at this year’s Euroanaesthesia meeting in Berlin will focus on whether laughing gas (nitrous oxide) should be banned from the operating room.

The debate coincides with an article on the “Current place of nitrous oxide in clinical practice” published in the European Journal of Anaesthesiology, that concludes there is “no clinically relevant evidence for the withdrawal of nitrous oxide from the armamentarium of anaesthesia practice or procedural sedation.”

In the debate, Professor Rolf Rossaint, University Hospital Aachen, Germany, will say he believes nitrous oxide should be banned. “Whereas 30 years ago, nearly every general anaesthesia procedure was performed with nitrous oxide as an adjuvant, a steady decline of its use over the last 15 years has been observed.