Indian journal of anaesthesia
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The intensive care unit (ICU) environment is often perceived to be hostile and frightening by patients due to unfamiliar surroundings coupled with presence of numerous personnel, monitors and other equipments as well as a loss of perception of time. Mechanical ventilation and multiple painful procedures that often need to be carried out in these critically ill patients add to their overall anxiety. Sedation is therefore required not only to allay the stress and anxiety, but also to allow for mechanical ventilation and other invasive therapeutic and diagnostic procedures to be performed. ⋯ A number of trials have shown the effectiveness of using volatile anaesthetic agents for ICU sedation with the AnaConDa device. Compared with intravenous sedatives, use of volatile anaesthetic agents have resulted in shorter wake up and extubation time, lesser duration of mechanical ventilation and faster discharge from hospitals. This review shall focus on the benefits, technical pre-requisites and status of sedation with volatile anaesthetic agents in ICUs with the AnaConDa(®) device.
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There was an era when bark of mandrake plant, boiled in wine was used to administer anesthesia. Ether, after reigning the kingdom of anaesthesiology for more than a century, came to be superseded by newer and newer agents. Anaesthesiology has witnessed tremendous developments since infancy. ⋯ Initially a master database was formed including human as well as animal studies. Later on the broad topic area was narrowed down to developments in nanotechnology as applied to anesthesiology. Further filtering of search results were done based on selection of researches and developments relating to local, regional and general anesthesia as well as critical care and pain and palliative care.