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Review
. 1997 Feb;16(2):88-103.
doi: 10.2165/00002018-199716020-00002.

Safety considerations in the use of drug combinations during general anaesthesia

E S Ransom  1 , R A Mueller
Affiliations
Review

Safety considerations in the use of drug combinations during general anaesthesia

E S Ransom et al. Drug Saf. 1997 Feb.

Abstract

The most commonly employed technique for providing general anaesthesia uses a balanced approach, where different drugs are used to reach specific desired endpoints. The variety of drugs used can result in a dozen or more different compounds being administered during a 'routine anaesthetic' procedure. Drug interactions are quite common and their clinical effects can be very significant. Clinically, general anaesthesia has 4 goals. These are: unconsciousness/amnesia; analgesia; muscle relaxation and maintenance of homeostasis. The anaesthesiologist tries to select only those drugs that permit a rapid onset of desirable operative conditions so that surgery can be performed properly and rapidly. Such drugs should also minimally disturb the patient's preoperative homeostatic maintenance, and maximise return to a desirable postanaesthetic functional state.

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