Editing General anaesthetic (section)

===Inhalation===

[[File:US Navy 030513-N-1577S-001 Lt. Cmdr. Joe Casey, Ship's Anesthetist, trains on anesthetic procedures with Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Eric Wichman aboard USS Nimitz (CVN 68).jpg|thumb|General anesthetics are frequently administered as volatile liquids or gases.]]
Inhalational anaesthetic substances are either [[Volatility (chemistry)|volatile]] [[liquid]]s or [[gas]]es, and are usually delivered using an [[anaesthesia machine]]. An anaesthesia machine allows composing a mixture of oxygen, anaesthetics and ambient air, delivering it to the patient and monitoring patient and machine parameters. Liquid anaesthetics are vapourised in the machine.<ref name=":52" />

Many compounds have been used for inhalation anaesthesia, but only a few are still in widespread use. [[Desflurane]], [[isoflurane]] and [[sevoflurane]] are the most widely used [[volatile anaesthetic]]s today. They are often combined with [[nitrous oxide]]. Older, less popular volatile anaesthetics include [[halothane]], [[enflurane]], and [[methoxyflurane]]. Researchers are also actively exploring the use of [[xenon]] as an anaesthetic.<ref name=":52" />