This article encompasses a brief background on the physical effects of alcohol-both in acute intoxication and in the chronic alcoholic. Also covered is an explanation of the process of intoxication, blood alcohol concentration and its pertinence in the anesthetic management of the acutely intoxicated. The author includes a section on the anesthetic management of both the chronic alcoholic and t...

Standardized Field Sobriety Tests (SFSTs) are used as qualitative indicators of impairment by alcohol in individuals suspected of DUI. Stuster and Burns authored a report on this testing and presented the SFSTs as being 91% accurate in predicting Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) as lying at or above 0.08%. Their conclusions regarding accuracy are heavily weighted by the large number of subject...

Key aspects of the pharmacokinetics of alcohol are highly relevant to highway safety. Of particular pertinence are the partition of alcohol between various body tissues and fluids and the resulting alcohol concentration ratios for blood: breath and other body fluids, as well as the irregularity and short-term fluctuations of the blood and breath alcohol curves. Most alcohol pharmacokinetics par...

An algorithm is suggested for interpretation of serum ethanol concentrations under legal statutes that specify whole-blood alcohol concentrations. The algorithm uses the distribution of individual serum:whole-blood alcohol concentration ratios to allow calculations at various levels of confidence that can be related to legal standards of evidence. Serum:whole-blood alcohol concentration ratios ...

This study examines the response of blood pressure, plasma catecholamines and cortisol to acute alcohol intake in young men with light to moderate drinking habits. Ingestion of alcohol was associated with a highly significant increase in systolic blood pressure and heart rate which occurred before blood alcohol reached its peak concentration of 16.9 +/- 1.1 mmol/l (80 mg/100 ml). After an initi...