The training is currently being used within the Golden Jubilee's Enhanced Recovery Programme, for teaching on knee anatomy and regional anaesthesia.
BBC: Virtual reality surgery software to aid trainee surgeons
Professor Khan is confident that the new technique will be particularly useful for patients who are at risk under a general anaesthesia.
Because a breath test is non-invasive and the results are instantaneous, it could prove even more convenient for example in anaesthesia or doping tests.
Anaesthesia, or even sedation can increase the risks of breathing difficulties.
Some hospitals have specific monitors for measuring the depth of anaesthesia.
"I have confidence in the initial assessment prior to surgery, conduct of surgery, anaesthesia and post-operative care from the nursing perspective in all cases, " he said.
The researchers from the Royal College of Anaesthetists and the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland say their preliminary findings, published in the journal Anaesthesia, should be reassuring for patients.
However, what alarmed me the most was the realisation that much of what women are told about the risks of medical interventions during labour - things like induction, epidural anaesthesia and undergoing a c-section - are overblown.
Warren Zapol, of the Massachusetts General Hospital and a professor of anaesthesia at Harvard Medical School, along with his colleagues, monitored the vital signs of mice exposed to low-dosages (80 parts per million) of hydrogen sulphide for several hours.
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In an interview with the BBC, Professor Khan credited the success of the operation to his anaesthetist, Dr Mubashir Zia, who he said had made the operation possible by rendering the spine numb using an epidural, rather than by general anaesthesia.
Dr Fumito Ichinose, assistant professor of anaesthesia at Harvard Medical School said that if the effects of hydrogen sulphide was confirmed in larger mammals it could be useful in helping to sustain the functionality of organs in patients undergoing cardiac surgery or in patients with severe trauma.
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