The sterile anaesthetist?

The ageing anaesthetist

Our population is ageing. The World Health Organization’s European Health Report 2012 describes a five-year rise in life expectancy between 1980 and 2010, with projections of a life expectancy of nearly 81 years by 2050. At that point, more than a quarter of Europe’s population will be over 65 years [1]. In response to these demographic changes, the normal pension age is set to rise in many cou...

Anions and the anaesthetist.

Anions are the negative components of most chemical structures and play many important physiological and pharmacological roles that are of interest to the anaesthetist. Their relevance is reviewed with a particular emphasis on the inorganic anions (halides, bicarbonate, phosphate and sulphate) and the significance and limitations of the anion gap. Organic anions (albumin, lactate) are also disc...

Calcium and the anaesthetist.

Calcium plays a central role in a large number of physiological actions that are essential for life. It is important therefore that the anaesthetist understands calcium pathophysiology. In this review, the physiology, regulation, clinical features, causes and treatment of alterations in circulating calcium will be discussed. In addition, the effects that acid-base status, massive blood transfus...

Hypnotism and the anaesthetist.

Now that there is a renaissance of hypnotism in this brave new world of psychology it has become the habit to regard it as a weapon wielded solely by the psychologist. In its previous incarnation it was used mainly in the art of surgery, and as a means of avoiding the awful ordeal of pain attendant on the early surgical procedures. In other words it was the sole property of one who would now be...

Eclampsia and the anaesthetist.