Clinical evidence for delayed chloroform poisoning

From its introduction in 1847, chloroform proved to be a potent anaesthetic agent and over the next 50 yr its use became widespread. However, in 1912 the Committee on Anaesthesia of the American Medical Association stated that they were concerned with the occurrence of delayed chloroform poisoning in a number of cases. This conclusion was based on case reports and experimental animal data. However, subsequent studies and reported series of chloroform anaesthesia in humans have suggested a lower incidence of clinically significant liver injury. In this article we have investigated this discrepancy by analysing the published clinical data relating chloroform anaesthesia to liver damage.