Principles and Pharmacology of Anaesthetics Flashcards
What does anaesthesia mean?
Without feeling/perception
Types of anaesthetic
General
Regional
Local
What does a general anaesthetic do?
Produces insensibility in the whole body, usually causing unconsciousness
Centrally acting drugs - hypnotics/analgesics
What does regional anaesthetics do?
Producing insensibility in an area or region of the body
Local anaesthetics applied to nerves supplying relevant area
What do local anaesthetics do?
Produce insensibility in only the relevant part of the body
Local anaesthetics applied directly to the tissues
Drugs used in anaesthetics
Inhalational anaesthetics Intravenous anaesthetics Muscle relaxants Local anaesthetics Analgesics
Techniques and equipment in anaesthetics
Tracheal intubation Ventilation Fluid therapy Regional anaesthesia Monitoring USS fibre optics BIS Sensors Modern anaesthetic machine
Triad of anaesthesia
Analgesia
Hypnosis
Relaxation
What types of drugs are used to form the triad of anaesthesia?
Opiates
Muscle relaxants
General anaesthetic agents
Local anaesthetics
What parts of the triad of anaesthetics do opiates effect?
ANALGESIA
hypnosis
What part of the triad of anaesthetics do muscle relaxants affect?
Relaxation
What part of the triad of analgesia does local anaesthetics effect?
Analgesia
Relaxation
What parts of the triad of analgesia does general anaesthetic agents effect?
ALL 3
Problems with anaesthetics
Polypharmacy
- including chance off drug reactions / allergies
Muscle relaxation
- requirement for artificial ventilation
- means of airway control
Separation of relaxation and hypnosis
- awareness
How do general anaesthetics work?
By suppressing neuronal activity in a dose dependent fashion
- interfere with neuronal ion channels
- hyperpolarise neurones = less likely to ‘fire’
- inhalational agents dissolve in membranes (direct physical effect)
- intravenous agents - allosteric binding (GABA receptors - open chloride channels)
What do intravenous and inhaled general anaesthetics do to the patient?
Provide unconsciousness
Small degree of muscle relaxation
What happens to the cerebral function in general anaesthesia?
Most complex processes interrupted first
LOC early - hearing later
more primitive functions lost later
What happens to reflexes in general anaesthesia?
Relatively spared
Primitive
Other autonomic functions spared also
small number of synapses
Features of unconsciousness in IV anaesthesia
rapid onset
1 arm - brain circulation time
Causes unconsciousness as soon as they reach the brain
Highly fat soluble drugs and cross membranes extremely quickly
Features of recovery in IV anaesthesia
Rapid recovery
Due to disappearance of drug from the circulation and moving to other parts of the body (compartments)
Very little due to termination of action of IV agent given as bolus
Blood concentration of anaesthetic dose
Blood level very high initially
Then falls straight away as the drugs move into highly perfused tissues
Muscle concentration of anaesthetic dose
Picks up the drug more slowly
The effect is large because of the relative mass of skeletal muscle in the body
Fatty tissue concentration of anaesthetic dose
Picks up drugs even more slowly than muscle
But can store large amounts due to the high fat solubility of these drugs
What does the Target Controlled Infusion (TCI) pump system allow?
Very accurate infusion to achieve specific blood or brain concentrations of agents