For many years Dr. Arnold Patel had used desflurane, a halogenated gas anesthetic, for his cardiac research using dogs. Compared to similar anesthetic gases, desflurane had certain desirable characteristics of importance to Patel’s research, such as a higher vapor pressure, better stability against chemical degradation, more rapid uptake and wash out, and negligible metabolism1. Patel knew that most university animal facilities used isoflurane for gaseous anesthesia, so when he took a position at Great Eastern University, he brought with him an entire setup for the use of desflurane. The attending veterinarian at Great Eastern had been told that Patel was coming but he did not know that Patel planned on using desflurane. Therefore, when Patel’s IACUC protocol application reached him for prereview, he was understandably alarmed because he and his technicians had no clinical experience with desflurane.

At a meeting between Patel, the veterinarian, and the IACUC chairman, Patel apologized for causing a problem but said that before he accepted his new position he had told his new department chairman that he would be using desflurane, and the chairman assured him that would not be a problem. The veterinarian was sympathetic about the lack of communication with the vivarium, but he requested that Patel use isoflurane, because the surgical suite was set up for isoflurane use and the veterinary team was trained on the use of isoflurane. Patel replied that was not possible because all his data and previous publications used only desflurane due to its attributes for his type of research. He suggested that the veterinarian contact the veterinarian at his previous institution to learn what, if anything, Great Eastern should do to accommodate the use of desflurane instead of isoflurane.

The IACUC chairman sided with the veterinarian and said that he believed the committee would not approve the protocol application if Patel did not switch to isoflurane, because it would be considered a matter of safety for the animals. However, as a compromise, he said that Patel should consider purchasing a few additional animals for the veterinary team to train themselves on the use of desflurane. Patel responded that if that was what the IACUC wanted, it could do that, but the purchase and maintenance of the animals should not be his expense. “Remember,” he said, “Great Eastern recruited me. I didn’t recruit Great Eastern.”

“That may be true,” responded the chairman, “but in the past the university has repeatedly said that any needed pilot study or unique training is the financial responsibility of the researcher. In any case, if you want to get your protocol through the IACUC without a substantial delay, you’re just going to have to use isoflurane.”

How would you approach the problem facing Patel and the IACUC?