Tag future of anesthesia

HIGH FLOW NASAL OXYGEN: AN ANESTHESIA GAME-CHANGER

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THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT
THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT
Physician anesthesiologist at Stanford at Associated Anesthesiologists Medical Group
Richard Novak, MD is a Stanford physician board certified in anesthesiology and internal medicine.Dr. Novak is an Adjunct Clinical Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at Stanford University, the Medical Director at Waverley Surgery Center in Palo Alto, California, and a member of the Associated Anesthesiologists Medical Group in Palo Alto, California.
emailrjnov@yahoo.com
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At the 2023 American Society of Anesthesiologists meeting in San Francisco, I walked by a booth advertising High Flow Nasal Oxygen. The product was called Optiflow. I asked the representative to educate me. She began by opening a package containing an Optiflow nasal cannula, and she strapped it around my head and into my nostrils. Within one minute she started a flow of 40 liters per minute of humidified, warmed 100% oxygen into my nose. I felt a slight sensation of moving air, but because the flow was humidified and warm, I felt no caustic insult of gas blasting through my nose and upper airway. I was—in a word—flabbergasted. The capacity to deliver this much oxygen to a non-intubated patient is a marked advance in anesthesia care.

HFNO was originally used in neonatal and pediatric ICUs to oxygenate acute hypoxemic respiratory failure patients without utilizing an endotracheal tube. Its use expanded to adult ICUs. The ability to deliver 60 to 70 liters per minute of oxygen via the nose enabled physicians to delay or avoid intubating ICU patients with hypoxemia. HFNO is delivered via nasal prongs which are larger than conventional nasal cannula prongs, and at higher flow rates than are generally applied during conventional oxygen therapy. Inspired oxygen/air is heated to 37 °C, and is humidified to 100% relative humidity.

A typical nasal oxygen cannula is limited to supplying 6 liters per minute of oxygen, which is approximately equivalent to delivering 45% oxygen. Using a typical nasal oxygen cannula at a flow higher than 6 liters will cause a patient significant irritation and drying of the nasal mucosa.  By humidifying and heating the oxygen inflow, HFNO can deliver 100% oxygen at a flow rate of up to 60 liters per minute via heated tubing and wide-bore nasal prongs.

 

 

Optiflow Airvo 2 high-flow nasal oxygen device: (1) wire-heated circuit tubing; (2) hot plate-heated humidification chamber system; (3) nasal cannula; (4) oxygen inlet port; (5) sterile water supply.

 

One day after attending the ASA meeting in San Francisco, I heard an in-person lecture in Palo Alto, California by Professor Anil Patel from the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital in London. Dr. Patel has been a pioneer in bringing HFNO/THRIVE from the ICU into the operating room. Dr. Patel is the author of a seminal THRIVE (Transnasal Humidified Rapid-Insufflation Ventilatory Exchange ) study, in which he wrote that THRIVE “has the potential to transform the practice of anesthesia by changing the nature of securing a definitive airway in emergency and difficult intubations from a pressured stop–start process to a smooth and unhurried undertaking.”

Patel’s landmark 2015 publication “Transnasal Humidified Rapid-Insufflation Ventilatory Exchange (THRIVE): a physiological method of increasing apnea time in patients with difficult airways” demonstrated that High Flow Nasal Oxygen (HFNO), or THRIVE, “combines the benefits of ‘classical’ apneic oxygenation with continuous positive airway pressure and gaseous exchange through flow-dependent dead space flushing. We extended the apnea times of 25 patients with difficult airways who were undergoing general anesthesia for hypopharyngeal or laryngotracheal surgery. This was achieved through continuous delivery of transnasal high-flow humidified oxygen, initially to provide pre-oxygenation, and continuing as post-oxygenation during intravenous induction of anesthesia and neuromuscular blockade until a definitive airway was secured. Apnea time commenced at administration of neuromuscular blockade and ended with commencement of jet ventilation, positive-pressure ventilation or recommencement of spontaneous ventilation. During this time, upper airway patency was maintained with jaw-thrust. Transnasal Humidified Rapid-Insufflation Ventilatory Exchange (THRIVE) was used in 15 males and 10 females. Mean (SD [range]) age at treatment was 49 (15 [25–81]) years. The median (IQR [range]) Mallampati grade was 3 (2–3 [2–4]), and direct laryngoscopy grade was 3 (3–3 [2–4]). There were 12 obese patients and nine patients were stridulous. The median apnea time was 14 (9–19 [5–65]) minutes. No patient experienced arterial desaturation < 90%.” (bold emphasis added by me.)

Figure 2 from this study shows the stability of O2 saturation during the prolonged apnea:

Figure 3 from this study shows the stability of end-tidal CO2 levels during the prolonged apnea, with an average rate of carbon dioxide rise of only 1.1 mm Hg per minute.

HFNO can generate a low level of positive pressure in the upper airway, directly proportional to the high gas flow delivered, probably improving oxygenation by PEEP (positive end-expiratory pressure). This PEEP effect improves alveolar recruitment, and might also improve gas exchange.

Widespread adoption of HFNO as routine therapy in the operating room is still lacking. The main textbook in our specialty, Miller’s Anesthesia, 9th Edition, describes the use of THRIVE for difficult intubations, but their coverage is limited to one paragraph in a chapter on Adult Airway Management, in a section describing Apneic Oxygenation, out of the 3112 pages in the publication.

Many clinicians are simply not aware the technology exists or that it is available.  I believe many smaller hospitals and outpatient facilities such as ambulatory surgery centers do not own the required equipment. The cost of using HFNO exceeds the cost of standard nasal cannulae, but  the cost is not prohibitive. One Optiflow oxygenation+humidification unit made by F & P Healthcare sells for about $1500. The disposable nasal tubing apparatus for one patient sells for about $35.

Important uses of HFNO in perioperative medicine will include : a) keeping a difficult airway patient oxygenated while the anesthesia provider is performing intubation or airway procedures; and b) keeping morbidly obese patients or patients with hypoxemic cardiopulmonary disease oxygenated for brief procedures without needing to place an endotracheal tube or a laryngeal mask airway (LMA).

Let’s look at two demonstrative examples:

High Flow Nasal Oxygen utilized during difficult intubation

 

  • A 53-year-old patient with a difficult airway presents for general anesthesia for bariatric surgery. The patient weighs 350 pounds, stands 5 feet 8 inches tall, and has a Body Mass Index of 53, classifying him as super morbidly obese. His airway exam shows a thick neck (circumference 42 cm, or 16.5 inches), a small mouth, a Mallampati 4 classification, and limited neck extension. You apply HFNO with 100% oxygen at 60 liters per minute, and continue this for 10 minutes prior to inducing anesthesia with propofol and rocuronium. Once the patient is unconscious, you attempt intubation with a Glidescope, and have difficulty visualizing the vocal cords. A colleague assists you by advancing an endotracheal tube threaded over a fiberoptic laryngoscope, while you hold the Glidescope in place. After 14 minutes of apnea time, your colleague is able to advance the fiberoptic scope into the trachea and slide the endotracheal tube past the vocal cords. During all this time the patient was apneic but remained well oxygenated with a saturation nadir of 97% because of the HFNO.
  • A 40-year-old patient presents for an upper GI endoscopy under intravenous sedation. The patient weighs 275 pounds and stands 5 feet 5 inches tall, for a BMI = 45. His airway exam is Mallampati 2. His abdomen is protuberant, and you’re concerned this morbidly obese patient will become hypoxemic under propofol sedation. You connect the patient to HFNO with 100% oxygen at 60 liters per minute for 5 minutes, and then position the patient in the lateral position, left side down. His oxygen saturation is 100%, and you begin a propofol infusion. The patient’s breathing becomes shallower as he loses consciousness, but his oxygen saturation remains 100% as the GI doctor inserts the endoscope into her mouth and completes the procedure. Once the gastroenterologist is finished, you turn off the propofol, the patient awakens, and you bring him to the Post Anesthesia Care Unit where he is stable until discharge.

Upper GI Endoscopy with Optiflow High Flow Nasal Oxygen

 

Currently the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) Difficult Airway Algorithm states, “Recommend supplemental oxygen administration before initiating and throughout difficult airway management, including the extubation process.” There is no specific mention of High Flow Nasal Oxygen (HFNO) or Transnasal Humidified Rapid-Insufflation Ventilatory Exchange (THRIVE), but the most effective way to administer supplemental oxygen during difficult airway management, without interfering with efforts to manage the airway, is High Flow Nasal Oxygen (HFNO) or Transnasal Humidified Rapid-Insufflation Ventilatory Exchange (THRIVE).

I believe a statement that High Flow Nasal Oxygen (HFNO) or Transnasal Humidified Rapid-Insufflation Ventilatory Exchange (THRIVE) is a standard of care in perioperative airway management is, in all likelihood, coming in the very near future. The benefit/risk ration of utilizing High Flow Nasal Oxygen (HFNO) or Transnasal Humidified Rapid-Insufflation Ventilatory Exchange (THRIVE) is very high.

I’d suggest you contact a manufacturer of High Flow Nasal Oxygen (HFNO) equipment such as the Optiflow unit,  and look into obtaining this useful adjunct for your facilities.

Disclaimer: I have no financial ties to the manufacturers of Optiflow, nor do I have any financial incentive for recommending their product. I simply want safer care for patients everywhere.

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The most popular posts for laypeople on The Anesthesia Consultant include: How Long Will It Take To Wake Up From General Anesthesia? Why Did Take Me So Long To Wake From General Anesthesia? Will I Have a Breathing Tube During Anesthesia? What Are the Common Anesthesia Medications? How Safe is Anesthesia in the 21st Century? Will I Be Nauseated After General Anesthesia? What Are the Anesthesia Risks For Children?

The most popular posts for anesthesia professionals on The Anesthesia Consultant  include: 10 Trends for the Future of Anesthesia Should You Cancel Anesthesia for a Potassium Level of 3.6? 12 Important Things to Know as You Near the End of Your Anesthesia Training Should You Cancel Surgery For a Blood Pressure = 170/99? Advice For Passing the Anesthesia Oral Board Exams What Personal Characteristics are Necessary to Become a Successful Anesthesiologist?

READ ABOUT RICK NOVAK’S FICTION WRITING AT RICK NOVAK.COM

CONTINUOUS FINGER-CUFF BLOOD PRESSURE MONITORING

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THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT
THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT
Physician anesthesiologist at Stanford at Associated Anesthesiologists Medical Group
Richard Novak, MD is a Stanford physician board certified in anesthesiology and internal medicine.Dr. Novak is an Adjunct Clinical Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at Stanford University, the Medical Director at Waverley Surgery Center in Palo Alto, California, and a member of the Associated Anesthesiologists Medical Group in Palo Alto, California.
emailrjnov@yahoo.com
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EDWARDS CLEARSIGHT FINGER-CUFF BLOOD PRESSURE MONITOR

 

Picture this: prior to surgery you place a blood pressure cuff around the middle phalanx of your patient’s right middle finger, instead of a standard cuff on the upper arm, to measure blood pressure. Is this the future? After decades of watching intermittent readings from oscillometric (standard) blood pressure cuffs, will we be monitoring data from a continuous finger-cuff instead?

Perhaps.

A study in the September 2023 issue of Anesthesiology showed that continuous finger-cuff arterial pressure monitoring helped anesthesia professionals a) reduce hypotension during the 15 minutes following induction of general anesthesia, and b) reduce hypotension during the duration of noncardiac surgery, compared to traditional intermittent oscillometric arterial pressure monitoring.

The study was done in a single medical center, the University Medical Center Hamburg–Eppendorf in Hamburg, Germany. A total of 242 patients aged 45 and older who were scheduled for noncardiac surgery were randomized to continuous finger-cuff arterial pressure monitoring or to intermittent traditional oscillometric arterial pressure monitoring. The continuous finger-cuff arterial pressure monitor used was the ClearSight system manufactured by Edwards Lifesciences, USA.

Edwards ClearSight Monitoring System

 

An appropriately sized finger-cuff (small, medium, or large) was positioned on the middle phalanx of the third or fourth finger of every patient, along with a standard intermittent oscillometric arterial pressure monitor on the opposite arm. Traditional oscillometric arterial pressures were measured at 2.5 minute intervals. The clinical monitoring for each patient was randomized to be either 1) unblinded continuous finger-cuff arterial pressure monitoring, or 2) intermittent standard oscillometric arterial pressure monitoring with the finger-cuff data blinded. The Hamburg medical center’s institutional routine was to maintain MAP (mean arterial pressure) above 65 mmHg, and intraoperative hypotension was treated with intravenous norepinephrine, which was given at the discretion of each attending anesthesiologist.

The Anesthesiology study had two primary endpoints. The first was the amount of hypotension during the 15 minutes following the induction of anesthesia, and the second was the time-weighted average MAP less than 65 mmHg during the entire surgery. Results showed that continuous finger-cuff arterial pressure monitoring helped anesthesia providers a) reduce hypotension within the first 15 minutes after starting induction of anesthesia, and b) reduce hypotension during the entire noncardiac surgery. Patients assigned to continuous finger-cuff monitoring received more than twice as much norepinephrine both within 15 minutes after starting induction of anesthesia and during the entire surgery, when compared with patients assigned to intermittent oscillometric monitoring. This presumably explains why there was significantly less hypotension in the continuous finger-cuff monitoring group.

Intraoperative hypotension carries risks of major postoperative complications, including acute kidney injury, myocardial injury, and death. Previous studies have validated that both the severity and the duration of intraoperative hypotension are associated with postoperative complications and mortality.  Two previous trials validated the efficacy of continuous finger-cuff arterial pressure monitoring during surgery. In a study of 160 patients undergoing orthopedic surgery, continuous finger-cuff monitoring resulted in less than half the number of hypotensive events, defined as a MAP less than 60 mmHg (19 vs. 51 events).  A second study of 316 patients undergoing noncardiac surgery showed that continuous finger-cuff arterial pressure monitoring nearly halved the amount of intraoperative hypotension, defined as the time-weighted average MAP less than 65 mmHg.

The Edwards Lifesciences website describes the ClearSight continuous finger-cuff monitoring system.   In addition to continuous blood pressure monitoring, the ClearSight system records advanced hemodynamic parameters from the noninvasive finger cuff, including graphic trend displays on the Edwards Lifesciences HemoSphere monitor of:
• Cardiac output (CO)
• Stroke volume (SV)
• Stroke volume variation (SVV), and
• Systemic vascular resistance (SVR).

These parameters provide additional information which, if validated, can expand the information an anesthesia provider can monitor routinely. The parameters of continuous blood pressure (ART), continuous Mean Arterial Pressure (MAP), Cardiac output (CO) and Stroke volume (SV) are shown on the HemoSphere monitor below.


The technology behind the ClearSight continuous finger-cuff monitor involves a principle called the volume clamp method. Per the Edwards Lifesciences website, this “involves clamping the artery in the finger to a constant volume, by dynamically providing equal pressure on either side of the arterial wall. The volume is measured by a photo-plethysmograph built into the cuff. The counter pressure is applied by an inflatable bladder inside the cuff and is adjusted 1000 times per second to keep the arterial volume constant. Continuous recording of the cuff pressure results in real-time finger pressure waveform.”

Volume clamp cross section

 

Interior of the Edwards finger-cuff

 

Dr. Daniel Sessler, one of the world’s most respected and prolific anesthesia researchers, is a co-author of the recent Anesthesiology study. To me this validates the notion that continuous finger-cuff technology may eventually gain widespread adoption in operating room monitoring. (Note also that Dr. Sessler is a consultant for Edwards Lifesciences, and has received research funding from the company, as have some of the other authors of the Anesthesiology study.)

Unanswered questions regarding continuous finger-cuff blood pressure monitoring include:

  • Would data show that more frequent utilization of oscillometric (standard) blood pressure readings, recordedwith our existing equipment every one minute instead of every 2.5 minutes, give as much information as a continuous finger-cuff?
  • If a patient’s hand or fingers are jiggled or moved during monitoring, would the continuous finger-cuff give significant artifacts?
  • Would clinicians use both traditional blood pressure cuff monitoring and continuous finger-cuff monitoring on the same patient, and make physiologic conclusions from both sources of input?
  • Will other models of finger-cuff monitoring, different from the Edwards Lifesciences ClearSight model, vary in accuracy? Will clinicians trust new finger-cuff monitoring devices and their data?
  • What will be the price of this technology?

The benefit/risk ratio of continuous finger-cuff monitoring appears to be high. The technology is noninvasive and unlikely to harm our patients in any way, as long as the data is accurate. The dollar cost of this new technology will influence its rate of adoption. Existing intermittent oscillometric (traditional) blood pressure monitoring devices are already present in every operating room as standard equipment on today’s budgets. If continuous finger-cuff blood pressure monitoring is both accurate and inexpensive, the new technology may be universally adopted. But because a majority of anesthetics are administered to reasonably healthy ASA 1 or ASA 2 patients, many of them in outpatient surgery centers, one could argue that measuring intermittent blood pressures every 2.5 to 3 minutes with oscillometric (traditional) blood pressure monitoring devices is an adequate monitoring interval for these patients. If the added cost of continuous finger-cuff monitoring is excessive, this technology may be limited to hospitals, where sicker patients are anesthetized for bigger and more invasive surgical procedures, and which present increased risk for patients with hypotension.

The Food and Drug Administration recently approved an additional monitoring system based on finger-cuff technology from Edwards Lifesciences, the Acumen Hypotension Prediction Index (HPI) software system. This system uses machine learning to alert clinicians of the likelihood a patient is trending toward hypotension, or low blood pressure.

Keep your eyes open for further studies on the ClearSight system, the Acumen system, and other continuous finger-cuff monitoring equipment. This technology may become part of our operating room life in the near future.

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The most popular posts for laypeople on The Anesthesia Consultant include: How Long Will It Take To Wake Up From General Anesthesia? Why Did Take Me So Long To Wake From General Anesthesia? Will I Have a Breathing Tube During Anesthesia? What Are the Common Anesthesia Medications? How Safe is Anesthesia in the 21st Century? Will I Be Nauseated After General Anesthesia? What Are the Anesthesia Risks For Children?

 

The most popular posts for anesthesia professionals on The Anesthesia Consultant  include: 10 Trends for the Future of Anesthesia Should You Cancel Anesthesia for a Potassium Level of 3.6? 12 Important Things to Know as You Near the End of Your Anesthesia Training Should You Cancel Surgery For a Blood Pressure = 170/99? Advice For Passing the Anesthesia Oral Board Exams What Personal Characteristics are Necessary to Become a Successful Anesthesiologist?

READ ABOUT RICK NOVAK’S FICTION WRITING AT RICK NOVAK.COM

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WILL ATUL GAWANDE CHANGE THE FUTURE FOR ANESTHESIOLOGISTS?

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THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT
THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT
Physician anesthesiologist at Stanford at Associated Anesthesiologists Medical Group
Richard Novak, MD is a Stanford physician board certified in anesthesiology and internal medicine.Dr. Novak is an Adjunct Clinical Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at Stanford University, the Medical Director at Waverley Surgery Center in Palo Alto, California, and a member of the Associated Anesthesiologists Medical Group in Palo Alto, California.
emailrjnov@yahoo.com
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Dr. Atul Gawande was named CEO of the new Amazon-Berkshire-JPMorgan Chase healthcare partnership. Dr. Robert Pearl wrote an original article in Forbes (June 25, 2018) titled, “Why Atul Gawande Will Soon Be the Most Feared CEO in Healthcare.” Dr. Gawande is a Professor of Surgery at Harvard/ Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and is the bestselling author of multiple nonfiction books directed at healthcare topics. Gawande also has a Masters Degree in Public Health, and with his background as a clinician, he is well poised to interpret the problems of our current healthcare system. Per Dr. Pearl, Gawande was hired by the new Amazon-Berkshire-JPMorgan Chase healthcare partnership to “disrupt the industry, to make traditional health plans obsolete, and to create a bold new future for American healthcare.” Will Gawande change the future for anesthesiologists?

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I’ve read Dr. Gawande’s books and I’ve heard him speak at Stanford. I have the highest respect for his intellect, clinical acumen, and insight. I’m intrigued and excited by what changes he might envision and enact for American healthcare. Surgical care comprises $500 billion, or 40% of healthcare dollars spent spent in America, so we can expect changes in our surgical world to be a likely source of healthcare savings.

Author Dr. Robert Pearl is the former CEO of Kaiser’s Permanente Medical Group, and brother to my Stanford University Department of Anesthesiology Chairman Ronald Pearl MD PhD. In his Forbes article, Robert Pearl lists three major reforms he anticipates Gawande will advocate for. Each reform is aimed to radically improve how care is paid for and provided—and each reform is aimed to radically alter how healthcare providers must function to survive in the future. Let’s look at these three proposed Gawande changes, and how they affect the future for anesthesiologists:

 

  1. Taking out the trash. Pearl writes, “It’s estimated that 25 percent of all U.S. healthcare spending (about $765 billion each year) is wasted. From arthroscopic knee surgeries for chronic cartilaginous injuries to chemotherapy administered in the last month of life, insurers have long reimbursed unnecessary claims and perpetuated a fee-for-service model that rewards doctors for providing more (not better) care. Dr. Gawande has witnessed the excesses of modern medical treatment first-hand, cataloging in his essays the toll wasteful care takes on patients, including his own friends and family. I believe one of his first operational goals will be to root out wasteful spending and services, not as way to ration care, but as a tool to improve clinical outcomes.”

         EFFECT ON ANESTHESIOLOGY AND PERIOPERATIVE MEDICINE: Each “unnecessary claim” that needed an anesthesiologist and every “fee-for-service” procedure that involved anesthesia care would disappear, decreasing the need for anesthesiologists and anesthesia services. This proposed elimination of wasteful spending would decrease the demand for anesthesia professionals.

 

  1. Creating a checklist. Pearl writes, “Gawande earned national acclaim with his 2009 bestseller, The Checklist Manifesto, inspiring an entire industry to double down on evidence-based medicine. From the exam room to the operating room, doctors today follow a clear set of protocols that Dr. Gawande helped establish. He’s currently focused on extending these successes to other areas, including maternity care and the treatment of patients with complex and chronic diseases. For example, the doctor has observed how the best healthcare providers can help 90 percent or more of their patients control high blood pressure. And yet the national control rate is just 55 percent. Left to their own devices, physicians prefer to follow their guts when diagnosing and treating patients. Dr. Gawande knows that, most of the time, science (not intuition) saves more lives, raises the quality of care and lowers costs.”

EFFECT ON ANESTHESIOLOGY AND PERIOPERATIVE MEDICINE: In the future, specific evidence-based protocols and algorithms could dictate anesthesia “recipes.” In the past, every anesthesia provider has had the freedom to design and carry out the pharmacology, monitoring, and perioperative care for each patient as he or she saw fit. These individual decisions were based on each physician’s training and experience. But in recent years, for example, protocols have been introduced to standardize perioperative care for total knee replacement, so that anesthetics include a spinal anesthetic, an adductor canal nerve block, and sedation or a light general anesthetic as well as multimodal analgesia with oral analgesic supplements. These total knee protocols have become standardized and accepted. What about future protocols? Can an insurer dictate what they will or will not pay for, based on their assessment of scientific evidence? This could occur if the insurer has data that the non-protocol care does nothing to improve quality, and it costs more. Let’s look at an example: There are a variety of pharmaceutical choices for the anesthesia care of a shoulder arthroscopy. An ultrasound-directed nerve block is optional. Is there evidence that the block provides safer or cheaper outcomes? If an evidence-based analysis is conducted and it shows that complications, costs, room time, and ancillary staff support are most economical with general anesthesia sans a nerve block, then that interscalene nerve block could be deemed an extraneous charge—an extraneous procedure that will not be paid for. If an anesthesiologist wanted to use the nerve block, the insurer would not reimburse those costs. Only the drug costs, procedures, and protocols approved by the insurance company would be approved. In the current fee-for-service practice, the anesthesiologist may be reimbursed $1000 for an ultrasound-directed nerve block that takes 5 minutes to perform. In the future the anesthesiologist may be doing that block without any reimbursement, yet still be responsible for any costs of that block and any risks or complications of that block. Having Amazon/Gawande dictate evidence-based protocols for postoperative care may produce cost-cutting economics, and anesthesiologists might find their hands tied to a recipe dictated from on high.

 

  1. Being human. Pearl writes, “In Being Mortal, Dr. Gawande shines an unflattering light on end-of-life care in America, revealing that treatment for our nation’s elderly is often expensive, ineffective and inhumane. He has long been an advocate for the model of clinician as counselor, not as technician, and for the power of palliative care to make end-of-life treatment more compassionate and personal. His stories about his own father and mother are moving, and underscore the emotions driving his desire to improve care for our nation’s sickest patients.”

EFFECT ON ANESTHESIOLOGY AND PERIOPERATIVE MEDICINE: All physicians have witnessed expensive and often futile end-of-life intensive care management for elderly patients. If physicians and hospitals are offered an open checkbook, they may choose to administer expensive high-tech interventions to elderly patients during their last weeks of life, including ventilator care, pressors, multiple antibiotics, blood product transfusions, and surgeries. In America we value every life as a precious resource. We value saving every life. It’s probable true that we can no longer afford to spend millions of dollars on the last weeks of each sick elderly patient’s life. It’s probably true that we need some conscience, some compassion, some judgment, and some empathy to choose who to attempt to save. Currently physicians cannot police these decisions themselves, and the government cannot set any rationing policies regarding end-of-life care. It may very well be insurance companies like Amazon/Gawande who set the incentives and disincentives directing payment or non-payment for such care. If surgeons and medical centers lose incentives to perform end-of-life surgical procedures, there will be decreased caseloads for anesthesiologists.

 

The expense of the current American healthcare system is unsustainable. Healthcare costs are 17% of the Gross National Product, and this percentage is growing every year. The cost of insuring employees is a large share of the wage and benefit expenses of every American CEO. The cost of insuring loved ones with current high-deductible insurance plans is a large share of the expense budget for every American family.

Something has to change. The driver of change may very well be the combined economic clout and intellect of: Amazon, the company that delivers UPS packages to our door 36 hours after placing an order; Warren Buffett, the world’s third richest man; J P Morgan Chase, a multi-national investment bank; and d) a talented physician/author/visionary named Atul Gawande.

The most popular posts for laypeople on The Anesthesia Consultant include:

How Long Will It Take To Wake Up From General Anesthesia?

Why Did Take Me So Long To Wake From General Anesthesia?

Will I Have a Breathing Tube During Anesthesia?

What Are the Common Anesthesia Medications?

How Safe is Anesthesia in the 21st Century?

Will I Be Nauseated After General Anesthesia?

What Are the Anesthesia Risks For Children?

 

The most popular posts for anesthesia professionals on The Anesthesia Consultant  include:

10 Trends for the Future of Anesthesia

Should You Cancel Anesthesia for a Potassium Level of 3.6?

12 Important Things to Know as You Near the End of Your Anesthesia Training

Should You Cancel Surgery For a Blood Pressure = 178/108?

Advice For Passing the Anesthesia Oral Board Exams

What Personal Characteristics are Necessary to Become a Successful Anesthesiologist?

 

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THE TOP 11 DISCOVERIES IN THE HISTORY OF ANESTHESIA

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THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT
Physician anesthesiologist at Stanford at Associated Anesthesiologists Medical Group
Richard Novak, MD is a Stanford physician board certified in anesthesiology and internal medicine.Dr. Novak is an Adjunct Clinical Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at Stanford University, the Medical Director at Waverley Surgery Center in Palo Alto, California, and a member of the Associated Anesthesiologists Medical Group in Palo Alto, California.
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Important advances in the history of anesthesia changed the specialty forever. Humans have inhabited the Earth for 200,000 years, yet the discovery of surgical anesthesia was a recent development in 1846. For thousands of years most surgical procedures were accompanied by severe pain. The only strategies available to blunt pain were to give patients alcohol or opium until they were stuporous.

In the 21st Century, modern anesthesiologists utilize dozens of medications and apply sophisticated high-tech medical equipment. How did our specialty advance from prescribing patients two shots of whiskey to administering modern anesthetics?

In chronologic order, my choices for the 11 most important advances in the history of anesthesia follow below. I’ve included comments to expound on the impact of each discovery.

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1846. THE DISCOVERY OF ETHER AS A GENERAL ANESTHETIC. The first public demonstration of general anesthesia occurred at Harvard’s Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. William Morton, a local dentist, utilized inhaled ether to anesthetize patient Edward Abott.  Dr. John Warren then painlessly removed a tumor from Abbott’s neck.  Comment: This was the landmark discovery. From this point forward, painless surgery became possible.

1885. THE DISCOVERY OF INJECTABLE COCAINE AND LOCAL ANESTHESIA.  Cocaine was the first local anesthetic. Dr. William Halsted of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore first injected 4% cocaine into a patient’s forearm and concluded that cocaine blocked sensation, as the arm was numb below but not above the point of injection. The first spinal anesthetic was performed in 1885 when Dr. Leonard Corning of Germany injected cocaine between the vertebrae of a 45-year-old man and caused numbness of the patient’s legs and lower abdomen. Comment: The discovery of local anesthesia gave doctors the power to block pain in specific locations. Improved local anesthetics procaine (Novocain) and lidocaine were later discovered in 1905 and 1948, respectively.

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1896. THE DISCOVERY OF THE HYPODERMIC NEEDLE, THE SYRINGE, AND THE INJECTION OF MORPHINE. Alexander Wood of Scotland invented a hollow needle that fit on the end of a piston-style syringe, and used the syringe and needle combination to successfully treat pain by injections of morphine. Comment: The majority of anesthetic drugs today are injected intravenously. Such injections would be impossible without the invention of the syringe.

1905. DISCOVERY OF THE MEASUREMENT OF BLOOD PRESSURE BY BLOOD PRESSURE CUFF. Dr. Nikolai Korotkov of Russia described the sounds produced during auscultation with a stethoscope over a distal portion of an artery as a blood pressure cuff was deflated. These Korotkoff sounds resulted in an accurate determination of systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Comment: Anesthesiologists monitor patients repeatedly during every surgery. A patient’s vital signs are the heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and temperature. It would be impossible to administer safe anesthesia without blood pressure measurement. Low blood pressures may be evidence of anesthetic overdose, excessive bleeding, or heart dysfunction. High blood pressures may be evidence of inadequate anesthetic depth, or uncontrolled hypertensive heart disease.

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1913. DISCOVERY OF THE CUFFED ENDOTRACHEAL BREATHING TUBE. Sir Ivan Magill of England developed a technique of placing a breathing tube into the windpipe, and endotracheal anesthesia was born. Dr. Chevalier Jackson of Pennsylvania developed the first laryngoscope used to visualize the larynx and insert an endotracheal tube. Drs. Arthur Guedel and Ralph Waters at the University of Wisconsin discovered the cuffed endotracheal tube in 1928. This advance allowed the use of positive-pressure ventilation into a patient’s lungs. Comment: Surgery within the abdomen and chest would be impossible without controlling the airway and breathing with a tube in the trachea. As well, the critical care resuscitation mantra of Airway-Breathing-Circulation would be impossible without an endotracheal tube.

1934. THE DISCOVER OF THIOPENTAL AND INJECTABLE BARBITURATES. Dr. John Lundy of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota introduced the intravenous anesthetic sodium thiopental into anesthetic practice. Injecting Pentothal became the standard means to induce general anesthesia. Pentothal provided a more pleasant method of going to sleep than inhaling pungent ether. Comment: This was a huge breakthrough. Almost every modern anesthetic begins with the intravenous injection of an anesthetic drug. (Propofol has now replaced Pentothal)

1940. THE DISCOVERY OF CURARE AND INJECTABLE MUSCLE RELAXANTS. Dr. Harold Griffith of Montreal, Canada injected the paralyzing drug curare during general anesthesia to induce muscular relaxation requested by his surgeon. Although the existence of curare was known for many years (it was an arrow poison of the South American Indians), it was not used in surgery to deliberately cause muscle relaxation until this time. Comment: Paralyzing drugs are necessary to enable the easy insertion of endotracheal tubes into anesthetized patients, and paralysis is also essential for many abdominal and chest surgeries.

1950’s. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE POST-ANESTHESIA CARE UNIT (PACU) AND THE INTENSIVE CARE UNIT (ICU). The shock and resuscitation units organized during World War II and the Korean War resulted in efficient care for the sick and wounded. After the wars, PACU’s and ICU’s were natural extensions of these battlefield inventions. Comment: In the PACU, a patient’s airway, breathing, and circulation are observed, monitored, and treated immediately following surgery. PACU’s decrease post-operative complications. In the ICU, Airway-Breathing-Circulation management perfected in the operating room is extended to critically ill patients who are not undergoing surgery.

1956. THE DISCOVERY OF HALOTHANE, THE FIRST MODERN INHALED ANESTHETIC. British chemist Charles Suckling synthesized the inhaled anesthetic halothane. Halothane had significant advantages over ether because of halothane’s more pleasant odor, higher potency, faster onset, nonflammability, and low toxicity. Halothane gradually replaced older anesthetic vapors, and achieved worldwide acceptance. Comment: Halothane was the forerunner of isoflurane, desflurane, and sevoflurane, our modern inhaled anesthetics. These drugs have faster onset and offset, cause less nausea, and are not explosive like ether. The discovery of halothane changed inhalation anesthesia forever.

1983. THE DISCOVERY OF PULSE OXIMETRY MONITORING. The Nellcor pulse oximeter, co-developed by Stanford anesthesiologist Dr. William New, was the first commercially available device to measure the oxygen saturation in a patient’s bloodstream. The Nellcor pulse oximeter had the unique feature of lowering the audible pitch of the pulse tone as saturation dropped, giving anesthesiologists a warning that their patient’s heart and brain were in danger of low oxygen levels. Comment: The Nellcor changed patient monitoring forever. Oxygen saturation is now monitored before, during, and after surgery. Prior to Nellcor monitoring, the first sign of low oxygen levels was often a cardiac arrest. Following the invention of the Nellcor, oxygen saturation became the fifth vital sign, along with pulse rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and temperature.

etco2-waveforms-i4

1986.  END-TIDAL CO2 MONITORING. In 1986 the American Society of Anesthesiologists mandated continual end-tidal carbon dioxide analysis be performed using a quantitative method such as capnography, from the time of endotracheal tube/laryngeal mask placement until extubation/removal or initiating transfer to a postoperative care location. The detection and monitoring of carbon dioxide gave immediate feedback whenever ventilation of the lungs was failing. For example, an endotracheal breathing tube placed in the esophagus instead of the tracheal would yield zero (or close to zero) carbon dioxide. The end-tidal CO2 device alarms immediately, the anesthesiologist recognizes the problem, and fixes it at once. The development of pulse oximetry and end-tidal CO2 monitoring were concurrent, and because of these twin discoveries, anesthesia care became markedly safer after the 1980’s

These are the top 11 discoveries in the history of anesthesia as I see them. What will be the next successful invention to advance our specialty?  A superior pain-relieving drug? A better inhaled anesthetic? An improved monitor to insure patient safety? Top scientists and physicians worldwide are working this very day to join this list. Good luck to each of them.

 

The most popular posts for laypeople on The Anesthesia Consultant include:

How Long Will It Take To Wake Up From General Anesthesia?

Why Did Take Me So Long To Wake From General Anesthesia?

Will I Have a Breathing Tube During Anesthesia?

What Are the Common Anesthesia Medications?

How Safe is Anesthesia in the 21st Century?

Will I Be Nauseated After General Anesthesia?

What Are the Anesthesia Risks For Children?

 

The most popular posts for anesthesia professionals on The Anesthesia Consultant  include:

10 Trends for the Future of Anesthesia

Should You Cancel Anesthesia for a Potassium Level of 3.6?

12 Important Things to Know as You Near the End of Your Anesthesia Training

Should You Cancel Surgery For a Blood Pressure = 178/108?

Advice For Passing the Anesthesia Oral Board Exams

What Personal Characteristics are Necessary to Become a Successful Anesthesiologist?

 

 

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Published in September 2017:  The second edition of THE DOCTOR AND MR. DYLAN, Dr. Novak’s debut novel, a medical-legal mystery which blends the science and practice of anesthesiology with unforgettable characters, a page-turning plot, and the legacy of Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan.

KIRKUS REVIEW

In this debut thriller, tragedies strike an anesthesiologist as he tries to start a new life with his son.

Dr. Nico Antone, an anesthesiologist at Stanford University, is married to Alexandra, a high-powered real estate agent obsessed with money. Their son, Johnny, an 11th-grader with immense potential, struggles to get the grades he’ll need to attend an Ivy League college. After a screaming match with Alexandra, Nico moves himself and Johnny from Palo Alto, California, to his frozen childhood home of Hibbing, Minnesota. The move should help Johnny improve his grades and thus seem more attractive to universities, but Nico loves the freedom from his wife, too. Hibbing also happens to be the hometown of music icon Bob Dylan. Joining the hospital staff, Nico runs afoul of a grouchy nurse anesthetist calling himself Bobby Dylan, who plays Dylan songs twice a week in a bar called Heaven’s Door. As Nico and Johnny settle in, their lives turn around; they even start dating the gorgeous mother/daughter pair of Lena and Echo Johnson. However, when Johnny accidentally impregnates Echo, the lives of the Hibbing transplants start to implode. In true page-turner fashion, first-time novelist Novak gets started by killing soulless Alexandra, which accelerates the downfall of his underdog protagonist now accused of murder. Dialogue is pitch-perfect, and the insults hurled between Nico and his wife are as hilarious as they are hurtful: “Are you my husband, Nico? Or my dependent?” The author’s medical expertise proves central to the plot, and there are a few grisly moments, as when “dark blood percolated” from a patient’s nostrils “like coffee grounds.” Bob Dylan details add quirkiness to what might otherwise be a chilly revenge tale; we’re told, for instance, that Dylan taught “every singer with a less-than-perfect voice…how to sneer and twist off syllables.” Courtroom scenes toward the end crackle with energy, though one scene involving a snowmobile ties up a certain plot thread too neatly. By the end, Nico has rolled with a great many punches.

Nuanced characterization and crafty details help this debut soar.

Click on the image below to reach the Amazon link to The Doctor and Mr. Dylan:

41wlRoWITkL

Learn more about Rick Novak’s fiction writing at ricknovak.com by clicking on the picture below:  

DSC04882_edited

 

 

DOES REPEATED GENERAL ANESTHESIA HARM THE BRAINS OF INFANTS AND YOUNG CHILDREN?

THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT 3 Comments
THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT
THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT
Physician anesthesiologist at Stanford at Associated Anesthesiologists Medical Group
Richard Novak, MD is a Stanford physician board certified in anesthesiology and internal medicine.Dr. Novak is an Adjunct Clinical Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at Stanford University, the Medical Director at Waverley Surgery Center in Palo Alto, California, and a member of the Associated Anesthesiologists Medical Group in Palo Alto, California.
emailrjnov@yahoo.com
THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT
Latest posts by THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT (see all)

Recent scholarly publications have raised the question whether repeated exposure to general anesthesia is harmful to the developing brain in infants and young children.  Millions of children have surgery under general anesthesia each year. Is repeated exposure to general anesthesia safe for the developing brain of your child? Let’s look at the evidence.

pediatric anesthesia

In 2011, a retrospective Mayo Clinic study looked at the incidence of learning disabilities (LDs) in a cohort of children born in Olmsted County, Minnesota, from 1976 to 1982.  Among the 8,548 children analyzed, 350 of the children received general anesthesia before the age of 2.  A single exposure to general anesthesia was not associated with an increase in LDs, but children who had two or more anesthetics were at increased risk for LDs.  The study concluded that repeated exposure to anesthesia and surgery before the age of 2 was a significant independent risk factor for the later development of LDs.  The authors could not exclude the possibility that multiple exposures to anesthesia and surgery at an early age adversely affected human neurodevelopment with lasting consequences.

The same group of Mayo Clinic researchers looked at the incidence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children born from 1976 to 1982 in Rochester, Minnesota.  Among the 5,357 children analyzed, 341 ADHD cases were identified.  For children with no exposure anesthesia before the age of 2 years, the cumulative incidence of ADHD at age 19 years was 7.3%  Exposure to multiple procedures requiring general anesthesia was associated with an increased cumulative incidence of ADHD of 17.9%. The authors concluded that children repeatedly exposed to procedures requiring general anesthesia before age 2 years were at increased risk for the later development of ADHD.

Anesthesia scientists decided to study this problem in mice.  In March 2013, researchers at Harvard and other hospitals exposed 6- and 60-day-old mice to various anesthetic regimens. The authors then determined the effects of the anesthesia on learning and memory function, and on the levels of proinflammatory chemicals such as cytokine interleukin-6 in the animals’ brains. The authors showed that anesthesia with 3% sevoflurane for 2 hours daily for 3 days induced cognitive impairment (i.e., unusually poor mental function) and neuroinflammation (i.e., elevated levels of brain inflammatory chemicals such as interleukin-6) in young but not in adult mice. Anesthesia with 3% sevoflurane for 2 hours daily for 1 day or 9% desflurane for 2 hours daily for 3 days caused neither cognitive impairment nor neuroinflammation. Treatment with the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) drug ketorolac caused improvement in the sevoflurane-induced cognitive impairment. The authors concluded that anesthesia-induced cognitive impairment may depend on age, the specific anesthetic agent, and the number of exposures. The findings also suggested that cellular inflammation in the brain may be the basis for the problem of anesthesia-induced cognitive impairment, and that potential prevention and treatment strategies with NSAIDs may ultimately lead to safer anesthesia care and better postoperative outcomes for children.

The same Harvard research group assessed the effects of sevoflurane on brain function in pregnant mice, and on learning and memory in fetal and offspring mice. Pregnant mice were treated with 2.5% sevoflurane for 2 hours and 4.1% sevoflurane for 6 hours. Brain tissues of both fetal and offspring mice were harvested and immunohistochemistry tests were done to assess interleukin-6 and other brain inflammatory levels.  Learning and memory functions in the offspring mice was determined by using a water maze. The results showed that sevoflurane anesthesia in pregnant mice induced brain inflammation, evidenced by increased interleukin-6 levels in fetal and offspring mice.  Sevoflurane anesthesia also impaired learning and memory in offspring mice. The authors concluded that sevoflurane may induce detrimental effects in fetal and offspring mice, and that these findings should promote more studies to determine the neurotoxicity of anesthesia in the developing brain.

What does all this mean to you if your children need anesthesia and surgery?  Although further studies and further data will be forthcoming, the current information suggests that:  (1) if your child has one exposure to anesthesia, this may constitute no increased risk to their developing brain, and (2) repeated surgery and anesthetic exposure to sevoflurane may be harmful to the development of the brain of children under 2 years of age.  It would seem a wise choice to delay surgery until your child is older if at all possible.

What does all this mean to anesthesiologists?  We’ll be watching the literature for new publications on this topic, but in the meantime it seems prudent to avoid exposing newborns and young children to repeated anesthetics with sevoflurane.  Currently, sevoflurane is the anesthetic of choice when we put children to sleep with a mask induction, because sevoflurane smells pleasant and it works fast.  Children become unconscious within a minute or two.  After a child is asleep, it may be advisable to switch from sevoflurane to the alternative gas anesthetic desflurane, since the Harvard study on mice showed anesthesia with 9% desflurane for 2 hours daily for 3 days caused neither cognitive impairment nor neuroinflammation.  A second alternative is to switch from sevoflurane to intravenous anesthetics alone, e.g., to utilize propofol and remifentanil infusions instead of sevoflurane.

The concept of pediatric anesthesia harming the developing brain was reviewed in the lay press in Time magazine in 2009.  The four articles I summarized above represent the most recent and detailed advances on this topic.  Stay tuned.  The issue of anesthetic risk to the developing brain will be closely scrutinized for years to come.

 

The most popular posts for laypeople on The Anesthesia Consultant include:

How Long Will It Take To Wake Up From General Anesthesia?

Why Did Take Me So Long To Wake From General Anesthesia?

Will I Have a Breathing Tube During Anesthesia?

What Are the Common Anesthesia Medications?

How Safe is Anesthesia in the 21st Century?

Will I Be Nauseated After General Anesthesia?

What Are the Anesthesia Risks For Children?

 

The most popular posts for anesthesia professionals on The Anesthesia Consultant  include:

10 Trends for the Future of Anesthesia

Should You Cancel Anesthesia for a Potassium Level of 3.6?

12 Important Things to Know as You Near the End of Your Anesthesia Training

Should You Cancel Surgery For a Blood Pressure = 178/108?

Advice For Passing the Anesthesia Oral Board Exams

What Personal Characteristics are Necessary to Become a Successful Anesthesiologist?

 

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Published in September 2017:  The second edition of THE DOCTOR AND MR. DYLAN, Dr. Novak’s debut novel, a medical-legal mystery which blends the science and practice of anesthesiology with unforgettable characters, a page-turning plot, and the legacy of Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan.

KIRKUS REVIEW

In this debut thriller, tragedies strike an anesthesiologist as he tries to start a new life with his son.

Dr. Nico Antone, an anesthesiologist at Stanford University, is married to Alexandra, a high-powered real estate agent obsessed with money. Their son, Johnny, an 11th-grader with immense potential, struggles to get the grades he’ll need to attend an Ivy League college. After a screaming match with Alexandra, Nico moves himself and Johnny from Palo Alto, California, to his frozen childhood home of Hibbing, Minnesota. The move should help Johnny improve his grades and thus seem more attractive to universities, but Nico loves the freedom from his wife, too. Hibbing also happens to be the hometown of music icon Bob Dylan. Joining the hospital staff, Nico runs afoul of a grouchy nurse anesthetist calling himself Bobby Dylan, who plays Dylan songs twice a week in a bar called Heaven’s Door. As Nico and Johnny settle in, their lives turn around; they even start dating the gorgeous mother/daughter pair of Lena and Echo Johnson. However, when Johnny accidentally impregnates Echo, the lives of the Hibbing transplants start to implode. In true page-turner fashion, first-time novelist Novak gets started by killing soulless Alexandra, which accelerates the downfall of his underdog protagonist now accused of murder. Dialogue is pitch-perfect, and the insults hurled between Nico and his wife are as hilarious as they are hurtful: “Are you my husband, Nico? Or my dependent?” The author’s medical expertise proves central to the plot, and there are a few grisly moments, as when “dark blood percolated” from a patient’s nostrils “like coffee grounds.” Bob Dylan details add quirkiness to what might otherwise be a chilly revenge tale; we’re told, for instance, that Dylan taught “every singer with a less-than-perfect voice…how to sneer and twist off syllables.” Courtroom scenes toward the end crackle with energy, though one scene involving a snowmobile ties up a certain plot thread too neatly. By the end, Nico has rolled with a great many punches.

Nuanced characterization and crafty details help this debut soar.

Click on the image below to reach the Amazon link to The Doctor and Mr. Dylan:

41wlRoWITkL

Learn more about Rick Novak’s fiction writing at ricknovak.com by clicking on the picture below:  

DSC04882_edited

 

 

THE TOP TEN MOST USEFUL ADVANCES AND THE FIVE MOST OVERRATED ADVANCES AFFECTING ANESTHESIA IN THE PAST 25 YEARS

THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT 2 Comments
THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT
THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT
Physician anesthesiologist at Stanford at Associated Anesthesiologists Medical Group
Richard Novak, MD is a Stanford physician board certified in anesthesiology and internal medicine.Dr. Novak is an Adjunct Clinical Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at Stanford University, the Medical Director at Waverley Surgery Center in Palo Alto, California, and a member of the Associated Anesthesiologists Medical Group in Palo Alto, California.
emailrjnov@yahoo.com
THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT
Latest posts by THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT (see all)

In 1986 the American Society of Anesthesiologists adopted pulse oximetry and end-tidal CO2 monitoring as standards of care.  These two monitors were our specialty’s major advances in the 1980’s, and made anesthesia safer for everyone. What are the most significant advances affecting anesthesia since that time? As a clinician in private practice, I’ve personally administered over 20,000 anesthetics in the past quarter century.  Based on my experience and observations, I’ve assembled my list of the Top Ten Most Useful Advances Affecting Anesthesia from 1987-2012.  I’ve also assembled my list of the Five Most Overrated Advances Affecting Anesthesia from 1987-2012.

THE TOP TEN MOST USEFUL ADVANCES AFFFECTING ANESTHESIA IN THE PAST 25 YEARS (1987- 2012):

#10. The cell phone (replacing the beeper).  Cell phones changed the world, and they changed anesthesia practice as well.  Before the cell phone, you’d get paged while driving home and have to search to find a payphone.  Cell phones allow you to be in constant contact with all the nurses and doctors involved in your patient’s care at all times.  No one should carry a beeper anymore.

#9. Ultrasound use in the operating room.  The ultrasound machine aids peripheral nerve blockade and catheter placement, and intravascular catheterization.  Nerve block procedures used to resemble “voodoo medicine,” as physicians stuck sharp needles into tissues in search of paresthesias and nerve stimulation.  Now we can see what we’re doing.

#8.  The video laryngoscope.  Surgeons have been using video cameras for decades.  We finally caught up.  Although there’s no need for a video laryngoscope on routine cases, the device is an invaluable tool for seeing around corners during difficult intubations.

#7.  Rocuronium.  Anesthesiologists long coveted a replacement for the side-effect-ridden depolarizing muscle relaxant succinylcholine.  Rocuronium is not as rapid in onset as succinylcholine, but it is the fastest non-depolarizer in our pharmaceutical drawer.  If you survey charts of private practice anesthesiologists, you’ll see rocuronium used 10:1 over any other relaxant.

#6.  Zofran.  The introduction of ondansetron and the 5-HT3 receptor blocking drugs gave anesthesiologists our first effective therapy to combat post-operative nausea and vomiting.

#5. The ASA Difficult Airway Algorithm.  Anesthesia and critical care medicine revolve around the mantra of “Airway-Breathing-Circulation.”  When the ASA published the Difficult Airway Algorithm in Anesthesiology in 1991, they validated a systematic approach to airway management and to the rescue of failed airway situations.  It’s an algorithm that we’ve all committed to memory, and anesthesia practice is safer as a result.

#4.  The internet.  The internet changed the world, and the Internet changed anesthesia practice as well.  With Internet access, clinicians are connected to all known published medical knowledge at all times.  Doctors have terrific memories, but no one remembers everything.  Now you can research any medical topic in seconds. Some academics opine that the use of electronic devices in the operating room is dangerous, akin to texting while driving.  Monitoring an anesthetized patient is significantly different to driving a car.  Much of O.R. monitoring is auditory.  We listen to the oximeter beep constantly, which confirms that our patient is well oxygenated.  A cacophony of alarms sound whenever vital signs vary from norms.  An anesthesia professional should never let any electronic device distract him or her from vigilant monitoring of the patient.

#3.  Sevoflurane.  Sevo is the volatile anesthetic of choice in community private practice, and is a remarkable improvement over its predecessors.  Sevoflurane is as insoluble as nitrous oxide, and its effect dissipates significantly faster than isoflurane.  Sevo has a pleasant smell, and it replaced halothane for mask inductions.

#2.  Propofol.  Propofol is wonderful hypnotic for induction and maintenance.   It produces a much faster wake-up than thiopental, and causes no nausea.  Propofol makes us all look good when recovery rooms are full of wide-awake, happy patients.

#1.  The Laryngeal Mask Airway.  What an advance the LMA was.  We used to insert endotracheal tubes for almost every general anesthesia case.  Endotracheal tubes necessitated laryngoscopy, muscle relaxation, and reversal of muscle relaxation.  LMA’s are now used for most extremity surgeries, many head and neck surgeries, and most ambulatory anesthetics.

THE FIVE MOST OVERRATED ADVANCES AFFECTING ANESTHESIA IN THE PAST 25 YEARS (1987-2012):

#5.   Office-based general anesthesia.  With the advent of propofol, every surgeon with a spare closet in their office became interested in doing surgery in that closet, and they want you to give general anesthesia there.  You can refuse, but if there is money to be earned, chances are some anesthesia colleague will step forward with their service.  Keeping office general anesthesia safe and at the standard of care takes careful planning regarding equipment, monitors, and emergency resuscitation protocols.  Another disadvantage is the lateral spread of staffing required when an anesthesia group is forced to cover solitary cases in multiple surgical offices at 7:30 a.m.  A high percentage of these remote sites will have no surgery after 11 a.m.

#4.  Remifentanil.  Remi was touted as the ultra-short-acting narcotic that paralleled the ultra-short hypnotic propofol.  The problem is that anesthesiologists want hypnotics to wear off fast, but are less interested in narcotics that wear off and don’t provide post-operative analgesia.  I see remi as a solid option for neuroanesthesia, but its usefulness in routine anesthetic cases is minimal.

#3.  Desflurane.  Desflurane suffers from not being as versatile a drug as sevoflurane.  It’s useless for mask inductions, causes airway irritation in spontaneously breathing patients, and causes tachycardia in high doses.  Stick with sevo.

#2.  The BIS Monitor.  Data never confirmed the value of this device to anesthesiologists, and it never gained popularity as a standard for avoiding awareness during surgery.

#1.  The electronic medical record.  Every facet of American society uses computers to manage information, so it was inevitable that medicine would follow. Federal law is mandating the adoption of EMRs.  But while you are clicking and clicking through hundreds of Epic EMR screens at Stanford just to finish one case, anesthesiologists in surgery centers just miles away are still documenting their medical records in minimal time by filling out 2 or 3 sheets of paper per case. Today’s EMRs are primitive renditions of what will follow. I’ve heard the price tag for the current EMR at our medical center approached $500 million.  How long will it take to recoup that magnitude of investment?  I know the EMR has never assisted me in caring for a patient’s Airway, Breathing, or Circulation in an acute care setting.  Managing difficulties with the EMR can easily distract from clinical care.  Is there any data that demonstrates an EMR’s value to anesthesiologists or perioperative physicians?

Your Top Ten List and Overrated Five List will differ from mine.  Feel free to communicate your opinions to me at rjnov@yahoo.com.

As we read this, hundreds of companies and individuals are working on new products.  Future Top Ten lists will boast a fresh generation of inventions to aid us in taking better care of our patients.

 

The most popular posts for laypeople on The Anesthesia Consultant include:

How Long Will It Take To Wake Up From General Anesthesia?

Why Did Take Me So Long To Wake From General Anesthesia?

Will I Have a Breathing Tube During Anesthesia?

What Are the Common Anesthesia Medications?

How Safe is Anesthesia in the 21st Century?

Will I Be Nauseated After General Anesthesia?

What Are the Anesthesia Risks For Children?

The most popular posts for anesthesia professionals on The Anesthesia Consultant  include:

10 Trends for the Future of Anesthesia

Should You Cancel Anesthesia for a Potassium Level of 3.6?

12 Important Things to Know as You Near the End of Your Anesthesia Training

Should You Cancel Surgery For a Blood Pressure = 178/108?

Advice For Passing the Anesthesia Oral Board Exams

What Personal Characteristics are Necessary to Become a Successful Anesthesiologist?

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Published in September 2017:  The second edition of THE DOCTOR AND MR. DYLAN, Dr. Novak’s debut novel, a medical-legal mystery which blends the science and practice of anesthesiology with unforgettable characters, a page-turning plot, and the legacy of Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan.

KIRKUS REVIEW

In this debut thriller, tragedies strike an anesthesiologist as he tries to start a new life with his son.

Dr. Nico Antone, an anesthesiologist at Stanford University, is married to Alexandra, a high-powered real estate agent obsessed with money. Their son, Johnny, an 11th-grader with immense potential, struggles to get the grades he’ll need to attend an Ivy League college. After a screaming match with Alexandra, Nico moves himself and Johnny from Palo Alto, California, to his frozen childhood home of Hibbing, Minnesota. The move should help Johnny improve his grades and thus seem more attractive to universities, but Nico loves the freedom from his wife, too. Hibbing also happens to be the hometown of music icon Bob Dylan. Joining the hospital staff, Nico runs afoul of a grouchy nurse anesthetist calling himself Bobby Dylan, who plays Dylan songs twice a week in a bar called Heaven’s Door. As Nico and Johnny settle in, their lives turn around; they even start dating the gorgeous mother/daughter pair of Lena and Echo Johnson. However, when Johnny accidentally impregnates Echo, the lives of the Hibbing transplants start to implode. In true page-turner fashion, first-time novelist Novak gets started by killing soulless Alexandra, which accelerates the downfall of his underdog protagonist now accused of murder. Dialogue is pitch-perfect, and the insults hurled between Nico and his wife are as hilarious as they are hurtful: “Are you my husband, Nico? Or my dependent?” The author’s medical expertise proves central to the plot, and there are a few grisly moments, as when “dark blood percolated” from a patient’s nostrils “like coffee grounds.” Bob Dylan details add quirkiness to what might otherwise be a chilly revenge tale; we’re told, for instance, that Dylan taught “every singer with a less-than-perfect voice…how to sneer and twist off syllables.” Courtroom scenes toward the end crackle with energy, though one scene involving a snowmobile ties up a certain plot thread too neatly. By the end, Nico has rolled with a great many punches.

Nuanced characterization and crafty details help this debut soar.

Click on the image below to reach the Amazon link to The Doctor and Mr. Dylan:

41wlRoWITkL

Learn more about Rick Novak’s fiction writing at ricknovak.com by clicking on the picture below:  

DSC04882_edited

 

ROBOT ANESTHESIA

THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT 4 Comments
THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT
THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT
Physician anesthesiologist at Stanford at Associated Anesthesiologists Medical Group
Richard Novak, MD is a Stanford physician board certified in anesthesiology and internal medicine.Dr. Novak is an Adjunct Clinical Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at Stanford University, the Medical Director at Waverley Surgery Center in Palo Alto, California, and a member of the Associated Anesthesiologists Medical Group in Palo Alto, California.
emailrjnov@yahoo.com
THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT
Latest posts by THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT (see all)

Will robots replace anesthesiologists? I am the Medical Director of a surgery center in California that does 5,000 gastroenterology endoscopies per year.  In 2013 a national marketing firm contacted me to seek my opinion regarding an automated device to infuse propofol. The device was envisioned as a tool for gastroenterologist/nursing teams to use to administer propofol safely for endoscopy procedures on ASA class I – II patients.

The marketing firm could not reveal the name of the device, but I believe it was probably the SEDASYS®-Computer-Assisted Personalized Sedation System, developed by the Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc., a division of Johnson and Johnson.  The SEDASYS System is a computer-assisted personalized sedation system integrating propofol delivery with patient monitoring. The system incorporates standard ASA monitors, including end-tidal CO2, into an automated propofol infusion device.

The SEDASYS system is marketed as a device to provide conscious sedation.  It will not provide deep sedation or general anesthesia.

Based on pharmacokinetic algorithms, the SEDASYS infuses an initial dose of propofol (typically 30- 50 mg in young patients, or a smaller dose in older patients) over 3 minutes, and then begins a maintenance infusion of propofol at a pre-programmed rate (usually 50 mcg/kg/min).  If the monitors detect signs of over- sedation, e.g. falling oxygen saturation, depressed respiratory rate, or a failure of the end-tidal CO2 curve, the propofol infusion is stopped automatically.  In addition, the machine talks to the patient, and at intervals asks the patient to squeeze a hand-held gripper device.  If the patient is non-responsive and does not squeeze, the propofol infusion is automatically stopped.

As of February, 2013, the SEDASYS system was not FDA approved. On May 3, 2013, Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. announced that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Premarket Approval for the SEDASYS® system, a computer-assisted personalized sedation system.  SEDASYS® is indicated “for the intravenous administration of 1 percent (10 milligrams/milliliters) propofol injectable emulsion for the initiation and maintenance of minimal to moderate sedation, as identified by the American Society of Anesthesiologists Continuum of Depth of Sedation, in adult patients (American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status I or II) undergoing colonoscopy and esophagoduodenoscopy procedures.”  News reports indicate that SEDASYS® is expected to be introduced on a limited basis beginning in 2014.

Steve Shaffer, M.D., Ph.D., Stanford Adjunct Professor, editor-in-chief of Anesthesia & Analgesia, and Professor of Anesthesiology at Columbia University, worked with Ethicon since 2003 on the design, development and testing of the SEDASYS System both as an investigator and as chair of the company’s anesthesia advisory panel.

Dr. Shafer has been quoted as saying, “The SEDASYS provides an opportunity for anesthesiologists to set up ultra-high throughput gastrointestinal endoscopy services, improve patient safety, patient satisfaction, endoscopist satisfaction and reduce the cost per procedure.” (Gastroenterology and Endoscopy News, November 2010, 61:11)

In Ethicon’s pivotal study supporting SEDASYS, 1,000 ASA class I to III adults had routine colonoscopy or esophagogastroduodenoscopy, and were randomized to either sedation with the SEDASYS System (SED) or sedation with each site’s current standard of care (CSC) i.e. benzodiazepine/opioid combination.  The reference for this study is Gastrointest Endosc. 2011 Apr;73(4):765-72. Computer-assisted personalized sedation for upper endoscopy and colonoscopy: a comparative, multicenter randomized study. Pambianco DJ, Vargo JJ, Pruitt RE, Hardi R, Martin JF.

In this study, 496 patients were randomized to SED and 504 were randomized to CSC. The area under the curve of oxygen desaturation was significantly lower for SED (23.6 s·%) than for CSC (88.0 s·%; P = .028), providing evidence that SEDASYS provided less over-sedation than current standard of care with benzodiazepine/opioid.  SEDASYS patients were significantly more satisfied than CSC patients (P = .007). Clinician satisfaction was greater with SED than with CSC (P < .001). SED patients recovered faster than CSC patients (P < .001). The incidence of adverse events was 5.8% in the SED group and 8.7% in the CSC group.

Donald E. Martin, MD, associate dean for administration at Pennsylvania State Hershey College of Medicine and chair of the Section on Clinical Care at the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), expressed concerns about the safety of the device.  Dr. Martin (Gastroenterology and Endoscopy News, November 2010, 61:11) was quoted as saying, “SEDASYS is requested to provide minimal to moderate sedation and yet the device is designed to administer propofol in doses known to produce general anesthesia.”

Dr. Martin added that studies to date have shown that some patients who had  propofol administered by SEDASYS experienced unconsciousness or respiratory depression (Digestion 2010;82:127-129, Maurer WG, Philip BK.). In the largest prospective, randomized trial evaluating the safety of the device compared with the current standard of care, five patients (1%) experienced general anesthesia with SEDASYS. The ASA also voiced concern that SEDASYS could be used in conditions that do not comply with the black box warning in the propofol label, namely that propofol “should be administered only by persons trained in the administration of general anesthesia and not involved in the conduct of the surgical/diagnostic procedure.”

Anesthetists, emergency room doctors, and trauma helicopter nurses are trained in the administration of general anesthesia. Gastroenterologists and endoscopy nurses are almost never experts in airway management.  For this reason, propofol anesthetics for endoscopy are currently the domain of anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists.

In my phone conversation regarding the automated propofol-infusion system, I told the marketing company’s representative that in my opinion a machine that infused propofol without an airway expert present could be unsafe.  The marketing consultant responded that in parts of the Northeastern United States, including New York City, many GI endoscopies are done with the assistance of an anesthesia provider administering propofol.  If SEDASYS were to be approved, the devices could replace anesthesiologists.

In the current fee-for-service model of anesthesia billing, anesthesiologists and CRNA’s bill insurance companies or Medicare for their professional time.  If machines replace anesthesiologists and CRNA’s, the anesthesia team cannot send a fee-for-service bill for professional time.  The marketing consultant foresaw that with the advent of ObamaCare and Accountable Care Organizations, if a health care organization is paid a global fee to take care of a population rather than being paid a fee-for-service sum, then perhaps the cheapest way to administer propofol sedation for GI endoscopy would be to replace anesthesia providers with SEDASYS machines.

A planned strategy is to have gastroenterologists complete an educational course that would educate them on several issues.  Key elements of the course would be: 1) anesthesiologists are required if deep sedation is required, 2) SEDASYS is not appropriate if the patient is ASA 3 or 4 or has severe medical problems, 3) SEDASYS is not appropriate if the patient has risk factors such as morbid obesity, difficult airway, or sleep apnea, and 4) airway skills are to be taught in the simulation portion of the training.  Specific skills are chin life, jaw thrust, oral airway use, nasal airway use, and bag-mask ventilation.  Endotracheal intubation and LMA insertion are not to be part of the class.  If the endoscopist cannot complete the procedure with moderate sedation, the procedure is to be cancelled and rescheduled with an anesthesia provider giving deep IV sedation.

Some anesthesiologists are concerned about being pushed out of their jobs by nurse anesthetists.  It may be that some anesthesiologists will be pushed out of their jobs by machines.

I’ve been told that the marketing plan for SEDASYS is for the manufacturer to give the machine to a busy medical facility, and to only charge for the disposable items needed for each case. The disposable items would cost $50 per case. In our surgery center, where we do 5,000 cases per year, this would be an added cost of $25,000 per year. There would be no significant savings, because we do not use anesthesiologists for most gastroenterology sedation.

There have been other forays into robotic anesthesia, including:

1) The Kepler Intubation System (KIS) intubating robot, designed to utilized video laryngoscopy and a robotic arm to place an endotracheal tube (Curr Opin Anaesthesiol. 2012 Oct 25. Robotic anesthesia: not the realm of science fiction any more. Hemmerling TM, Terrasini N. Departments of Anesthesia, McGill University),

2) The McSleepy intravenous sedation machine, designed to administer propofol, narcotic, and muscle relaxant to patients to control hypnosis, analgesia, and muscle relaxation. (Curr Opin Anaesthesiol. 2012 Dec;25(6):736-42. Robotic anesthesia: not the realm of science fiction any more. Hemmerling TM, Terrasini N.)

3) The use of the DaVinci surgical robot to perform regional anesthetic blockade. (Anesth Analg. 2010 Sep;111(3):813-6. Epub 2010 Jun 25. Technical communication: robot-assisted regional anesthesia: a simulated demonstration. Tighe PJ, Badiyan SJ, Luria I, Boezaart AP, Parekattil S.).

4) The use of the Magellan robot to place peripheral nerve blocks (Anesthesiology News, 2012, 38:8)

Each of these applications may someday lead to the performance of anesthesia by an anesthesiologist at geographical distance from the patient.  In an era where 17% of the Gross National Product of the United States is already being spent on health care, one can question the logic of building expensive technology to perform routine tasks like I.V. sedation, endotracheal intubation, or regional block placement.  The new inventions are futuristic and interesting, but a DaVinci surgical robot costs $1.8 million, and who knows what any of these anesthesia robots would sell for?  The devices seem more inflationary than helpful at this point.

Will robots replace anesthesiologists?  Inventors are edging in that direction.  I would watch the peer-reviewed anesthesia journals for data that validates the utility and safety of any of these futuristic advances.

It will be a long time before anyone invents a machine or a robot that can perform mask ventilation.  SEDASYS is designed for conscious sedation, not deep sedation or general anesthesia.  Anyone or anything that administers general anesthesia without expertise in mask ventilation and all facets of airway management is courting disaster.

NOTE: In March of 2016, Johnson & Johnson announced that they were going to stop selling the SEDASYS system due to slow sales and company-wide cost cutting. The concept of Robot Anesthesia will have to wait for some future development, if ever, if it is to ever become an important part of the marketplace.

The most popular posts for laypeople on The Anesthesia Consultant include:

How Long Will It Take To Wake Up From General Anesthesia?

Why Did Take Me So Long To Wake From General Anesthesia?

Will I Have a Breathing Tube During Anesthesia?

What Are the Common Anesthesia Medications?

How Safe is Anesthesia in the 21st Century?

Will I Be Nauseated After General Anesthesia?

What Are the Anesthesia Risks For Children?

The most popular posts for anesthesia professionals on The Anesthesia Consultant  include:

10 Trends for the Future of Anesthesia

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Should You Cancel Surgery For a Blood Pressure = 178/108?

Advice For Passing the Anesthesia Oral Board Exams

What Personal Characteristics are Necessary to Become a Successful Anesthesiologist?

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Published in September 2017:  The second edition of THE DOCTOR AND MR. DYLAN, Dr. Novak’s debut novel, a medical-legal mystery which blends the science and practice of anesthesiology with unforgettable characters, a page-turning plot, and the legacy of Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan.

KIRKUS REVIEW

In this debut thriller, tragedies strike an anesthesiologist as he tries to start a new life with his son.

Dr. Nico Antone, an anesthesiologist at Stanford University, is married to Alexandra, a high-powered real estate agent obsessed with money. Their son, Johnny, an 11th-grader with immense potential, struggles to get the grades he’ll need to attend an Ivy League college. After a screaming match with Alexandra, Nico moves himself and Johnny from Palo Alto, California, to his frozen childhood home of Hibbing, Minnesota. The move should help Johnny improve his grades and thus seem more attractive to universities, but Nico loves the freedom from his wife, too. Hibbing also happens to be the hometown of music icon Bob Dylan. Joining the hospital staff, Nico runs afoul of a grouchy nurse anesthetist calling himself Bobby Dylan, who plays Dylan songs twice a week in a bar called Heaven’s Door. As Nico and Johnny settle in, their lives turn around; they even start dating the gorgeous mother/daughter pair of Lena and Echo Johnson. However, when Johnny accidentally impregnates Echo, the lives of the Hibbing transplants start to implode. In true page-turner fashion, first-time novelist Novak gets started by killing soulless Alexandra, which accelerates the downfall of his underdog protagonist now accused of murder. Dialogue is pitch-perfect, and the insults hurled between Nico and his wife are as hilarious as they are hurtful: “Are you my husband, Nico? Or my dependent?” The author’s medical expertise proves central to the plot, and there are a few grisly moments, as when “dark blood percolated” from a patient’s nostrils “like coffee grounds.” Bob Dylan details add quirkiness to what might otherwise be a chilly revenge tale; we’re told, for instance, that Dylan taught “every singer with a less-than-perfect voice…how to sneer and twist off syllables.” Courtroom scenes toward the end crackle with energy, though one scene involving a snowmobile ties up a certain plot thread too neatly. By the end, Nico has rolled with a great many punches.

Nuanced characterization and crafty details help this debut soar.

Click on the image below to reach the Amazon link to The Doctor and Mr. Dylan:

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Learn more about Rick Novak’s fiction writing at ricknovak.com by clicking on the picture below:  

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CHALLENGES FOR THE NEXT 25 YEARS OF ANESTHESIA

THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT 1 Comment
THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT
THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT
Physician anesthesiologist at Stanford at Associated Anesthesiologists Medical Group
Richard Novak, MD is a Stanford physician board certified in anesthesiology and internal medicine.Dr. Novak is an Adjunct Clinical Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at Stanford University, the Medical Director at Waverley Surgery Center in Palo Alto, California, and a member of the Associated Anesthesiologists Medical Group in Palo Alto, California.
emailrjnov@yahoo.com
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The past 25 years brought remarkable advances in clinical anesthesia practice, including pulse oximetry, end-tidal gas monitoring, propofol, and the laryngeal mask airway.  I posed this question to our Stanford anesthesia faculty who specialize in private practice:  In your opinion, what are the most important problems for anesthesia to address in the next 25 years?

Their answers:   “I think medicine as I have known it in my career will be unrecognizable 25 years from now.  There may be a few well-trained anesthesiologists who provide one-on-one anesthesia for the few patients who are willing to pay for it.  Our society has decided that it doesn’t want to pay for this kind of care for everyone.  I think the systems for providing anesthesia care will be unrecognizable to us in 25 years.   Since this change is going to come whether or not we like it, I would like to see our excellent academic Anesthesia Departments lead the way.  It is time for anesthesia leaders to take over the training of all those who provide anesthesia care so that we can maintain and improve the scientific advances that have been made in the last 25 years.   I think we all agree that some practitioners are over-trained and some under-trained for what they do for most of their careers.  I would like to see more sub-specialization earlier in training.  I would like to see our academics come up with possible solutions to providing high quality anesthesia care in a more cost effective way.  I think real team approaches, robotics and advances in information technologies should be tried to accomplish this goal.   If we don’t come up with more cost-effective ways it will be mandated by those who pay the bills, and I don’t think we will like their solutions.”    Lynn Rosenstock, M.D.  Past-President, Santa Clara County Medical Association;  Past-President, Associated Anesthesiologists Medical Group (AAMG), Stanford.

“I think economic pressures are driving academicians to practical efficiency and marketing pressures are driving private practitioners to offer ‘state of the art.’   In terms of tools that we use, the next 25 years will hopefully reveal enough understanding of mechanisms of consciousness, memory, sleep, and pain to allow us to have medications and techniques to more precisely target cells with minimal damage.  Real time 3-D Echo and 4-D MRI will finally get the resolution and size reduction needed for usage.  Robotic and mobile miniaturized anesthesia machines are likely coming down the pipeline too.”  Charles Wang, M.D. Department of Anesthesia, Palo Alto Medical Clinic (PAMC)..

“I hope that major improvements in pain management for the post-op patient come along before we retire.”  Bruce Halperin, M.D. AAMG.

“Problems will be:  1) to continue to increase safety while being pressured to do more for less;  and  2) to continue to train future generations of anesthesiologists when staffing and research needs at university settings don’t allow for significant one-to-one teaching.  Residents often provide manpower first and receive education as a secondary benefit.”  Chris Cartwright, M.D., PAMC.

“My thoughts are that we will find opioids without respiratory depression, and be able to use them to decrease the risk of anesthesia so that anybody can do anesthesia for any patient. That is my guess.” Joe Weber, M.D.  PAMC.

“I think that the biggest problem to be addressed in the next 25 years is finding drugs with specific desirable effects, without the side effects we deal with now, such as respiratory depression and nausea.   I am sure that more receptor-specific drugs will be in use by then.”Mike Cully, Hoag Hospital, Newport Beach.
“First, I would expect the problems of the three ‘R’s’:    Retirement, Recruitment, and Retention of anesthesiologists.  Second, I foresee models of delivering care to maximize physician extenders . . . yes, non-M.D. providers of care.   Third, there will be more delivering of care outside of our traditional settings.   Fourth, there will be more partnerships between physicians and care settings . . . i.e. the foundation model for delivery of care.   Fifth,  I expect the digitalization of information and record keeping, and finally, the impact of totally noninvasive surgery that does not require any anesthesia!”  David Berger, M.D.  Alta Bates Hospital.

“I think the biggest problem our specialty will face in the next two and a half decades is an indirect result of the epoch-changing advances you site prior to your question.   I suggest that our specialty is becoming complacent and apathetic and developing a dangerous attitude of entitlement.  The problem is the preservation of our professional status as physician specialists and our individual professionalism, ethics, and autonomy.  These things are the soul and core of what it means to be a physician, and are being eroded by the increasing power and influence of corporate business in medicine, and the ever tightening choke hold of governmental regulation.  There are a number of reasons why the practice of anesthesiology is particularly vulnerable in a way that our surgical colleagues and other physicians are more insulated.  We can accelerate this process of degradation by making short-sighted choices, or become proactive, patient advocacy oriented participants in the evolution of American medicine.  This must be a specialty-wide movement, however, not just limited to the few who are involved beyond one’s own narrow and immediate self interest, for us to successfully maintain the achievements of which we are so proud.”  Mark Singleton, M.D.,  Good Samaritan Hospital Group, San Jose.
“First, I would expect the problems of the three ‘R’s’:    Retirement, Recruitment, and Retention of anesthesiologists.  Second, I foresee models of delivering care to maximize physician extenders . . . yes, non-M.D. providers of care.   Third, there will be more delivering of care outside of our traditional settings.   Fourth, there will be more partnerships between physicians and care settings . . . i.e. the foundation model for delivery of care.   Fifth,  I expect the digitalization of information and record keeping, and finally, the impact of totally noninvasive surgery that does not require any anesthesia!”  David Berger, M.D.  Alta Bates Hospital.

“I think the biggest problem our specialty will face in the next two and a half decades is an indirect result of the epoch-changing advances you site prior to your question.   I suggest that our specialty is becoming complacent and apathetic and developing a dangerous attitude of entitlement.  The problem is the preservation of our professional status as physician specialists and our individual professionalism, ethics, and autonomy.  These things are the soul and core of what it means to be a physician, and are being eroded by the increasing power and influence of corporate business in medicine, and the ever tightening choke hold of governmental regulation.  There are a number of reasons why the practice of anesthesiology is particularly vulnerable in a way that our surgical colleagues and other physicians are more insulated.  We can accelerate this process of degradation by making short-sighted choices, or become proactive, patient advocacy oriented participants in the evolution of American medicine.  This must be a specialty-wide movement, however, not just limited to the few who are involved beyond one’s own narrow and immediate self interest, for us to successfully maintain the achievements of which we are so proud.”  Mark Singleton, M.D.,  Good Samaritan Hospital Group, San Jose.

 

Learn more about Rick Novak’s fiction writing at ricknovak.com by clicking on the picture below:  

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