Inhaled Anesthetic Agents Flashcards
What are the factors that affect uptake of an anesthetic agent into the bloodstream?
- Alveolar-venous partial pressure difference
- Blood-gas coefficient
- Cardiac output
What MAC value prevents response to a surgical stimulus in 97% of patients? 99% of patients?
97%: 1.2 MAC
99%: 1.3 MAC
Name the MAC values and blood-gas coefficients of Sevo, Des, Iso, and N2O
Sevo: 2.0 MAC, b-g: 0.63
Des: 6.0 MAC, b-g: 0.42
Iso: 1.14 MAC, b-g: 1.4
N2O: 104 MAC, b-g: 0.47
How do right-to-left intracardiac shunts affect inhalation inductions?
Slows them down (dilution of pulmonary blood entering the left side of the heart with venous blood that has no inhaled anesthetics)
How does cardiac output affect speed of induction?
Increased CO = slower onset of induction (blood spends less time with alveoli to pick up gas)
What is the Meyer-Overton Hypothesis?
Lipid-solubility hypothesis: anesthesia is produced when sufficient numbers of molecules disrupt neuronal lipid membranes, causing anesthesia (outdated)
What is the critical volume hypothesis?
Anesthesia occurs when anesthetic agents cause lipid-membrane expansion, disrupting membrane-protein function (at critically relevant concentrations)
How do inhaled anesthetics affect the CNS?
Potentiate inhibitor neurotransmission (GABA or glycine) and inhibit excitatory transmissions (NMDA) both presynaptically and postsynaptically
Describe the concentrating effect of anesthetic gases
As the inhalation agent is taken up by the blood, the total lung volume is decreased by the amount of gas taken up by the blood, concentrating the agent remaining within the lung
Describe the second-gas effect
The uptake of a first gas reduces the total gas volume, increasing the concentration of the second gas via the concentrating effect.
With what anesthetic gases does the concentrating effect play more of a role? The second-gas effect?
Concentrating: less soluble agents (i.e. Des or N2O)
Second-gas: more soluble second gas agents (i.e. Iso)
At higher altitudes, how would an inhalation agent differ in its effect?
The same concentration would exert a lower partial pressure within the alveolus and have a reduced anesthetic effect.
What is the standard stimulation used to define MAC in humans?
Skin incision
How do opioids/benzos/barbs/propofol, ketamine, alpha-2 agonists, IV local anesthetics, amphetamines, ephedrine affect MAC?
Amphetamines and ephedrine increased MAC; the rest decrease MAC
How does acute vs. chronic EtOH affect MAC?
Acute: decreases MAC
Chronic: increases MAC
At what age is MAC the highest? How can you estimate MAC in the elderly?
3-6 months of age
MAC decreases 6% per decade of life after age 40