Addressing Anesthesia System Safety: New Guidance for Perioperative Care

GE Healthcare updated guidance for the GE Carestation 600/700 flags management-board failures that can cause unexpected AC mains–related shutdowns and interrupt anesthesia delivery — a low-frequency, high-consequence perioperative safety risk.

GE’s advisory identifies management-board faults as the root cause of these shutdowns, which can temporarily stop mechanical and manual ventilation and interrupt volatile agent delivery; no injuries have been reported to date, though caution is warranted.

Disruption can occur during active use or with AC power interruption. Watch for loss of ventilation, abrupt drops in agent delivery, ventilator alarms, or capnography changes such as a sudden EtCO2 decline. Although occurrences appear uncommon, the consequences can be severe; teams should shorten time-to-rescue.

Operational priorities are actionable and time-bound: update preoperative checklists within 72 hours; verify backup ventilation and battery status on affected units and tag inventory; schedule short team training sessions within one week to rehearse failure responses—these steps will mitigate the high-consequence risk if a shutdown occurs.

Key Takeaways:

• GE Healthcare’s updated guidance for the Carestation 600/700 highlights management-board–related unexpected power loss and potential ventilation/agent‑delivery disruption.
• No injuries reported to date, but the advisory warrants immediate checklist and readiness updates to reduce response time.
• Priority operational steps: verify power and backups, prepare intraoperative rescue equipment, and run short team drills and communications.