Electrolyte Tag's Archives

Synopsis of Important Principles
anaesthesia prevention of pain during surgery

  1. The main aim of anaesthesia is the prevention of pain during surgery and at other times.
  2. Anaesthesia involves a balanced approach, in which the individual patient’s psyche and pathophysiology are taken into account and drugs are used to modify and control any aspect as required.
  3. The decision to use a particular drug or technique must be made after careful consideration of the pathophysiological features of the individual case and how these may affect the phar­macokinetic handling and tissue response to the drugs available.
  4. Any associated disease or pathophysiological abnormality should wherever possible be treated or corrected before operation, and potentially dangerous physiological disturbances avoided during and after anaesthesia.
  5. Anaesthetic drugs are relatively non-toxic but there are some important effects. Halothane is occasionally associated with hepatitis and methoxyflurane with kidney damage. Malignant hyperpyrexia, the aetiology of which is uncertain, is a rare but often fatal condition which can be triggered off by several anaesthetic drugs in genetically susceptible individuals.