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Opioids: clinical use as anesthetic agents
Journal of Pain and Symptom Management
|August 11, 1992
Summary
Opioids are effective anesthetic agents, especially for cardiovascular patients. Careful dose titration, often with computer-controlled pumps, ensures safe anesthesia and appropriate recovery, minimizing risks like postoperative respiratory depression.
Area of Science:
- Anesthesiology
- Pharmacology
Background:
- Opioids are integral to anesthesia, used for sedation, analgesia, and as primary anesthetic agents.
- Their use in major surgeries, particularly for patients with cardiovascular disease, is common due to minimal cardiac depression.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the anesthetic applications of opioids.
- To discuss the safe and effective management of opioid-based anesthesia, emphasizing dose titration and potential side effects.
Main Methods:
- Review of opioid pharmacology and clinical applications in anesthesia.
- Discussion of dose titration strategies and advanced delivery systems like computer-controlled infusion pumps.
Main Results:
- Opioids offer a wide safety margin, allowing large intraoperative doses with mechanical ventilation support.
- Overdosing leads to prolonged recovery and postoperative ventilatory depression, highlighting the importance of precise titration.
Conclusions:
- Opioid anesthesia requires careful dose titration based on individual patient response and surgical needs.
- Computer-controlled infusion systems enhance anesthetic management, facilitating appropriate recovery and enabling patient-controlled analgesia.