• D H Bremerich.
• Klinik für Anästhesiologie, Intensivmedizin und Schmerztherapie, Zentrum der Anästhesiologie und Wiederbelebung, Klinikum der Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt/Main. Bremerich@em.uni-frankfurt.de
• Anasthesiol Intensivmed Notfallmed Schmerzther. 2000 Sep 1;35(9):545-58.

AbstractAsthma is defined as a chronic inflammatory airway disease in response to a wide variety of provoking stimuli. Characteristic clinical symptoms of asthma are bronchial hyperreactivity, reversible airway obstruction, wheezing and dyspnea. Asthma presents a major public health problem with increasing prevalence rates and severity worldwide. Despite major advances in our understanding of the clinical management of asthmatic patients, it remains a challenging population for anesthesiologists in clinical practice. The anesthesiologist's responsibility starts with the preoperative assessment and evaluation of the pulmonary function. For patients with asthma who currently have no symptoms, the risk of perioperative respiratory complications is extremely low. Therefore, pulmonary function should be optimized preoperatively and airway obstruction should be controlled by using steroids and bronchodilators. Preoperative spirometry is a simple means of assessing presence and severity of airway obstruction as well as the degree of reversibility in response to bronchodilator therapy. An increase of 15% in FEV1 is considered clinically significant. Most asymptomatic persons with asthma can safely undergo general anesthesia with and without endotracheal intubation. Volatile anesthetics are still recommended for general anesthetic techniques. As compared to barbiturates and even ketamine, propofol is considered to be the agent of choice for induction of anesthesia in asthmatics. The use of regional anesthesia does not reduce perioperative respiratory complications in asymptomatic asthmatics, whereas it is advantageous in symptomatic patients. Pregnant asthmatic and parturients undergoing anesthesia are at increased risk, especially if regional anesthetic techniques are not suitable and prostaglandin and its derivates are administered for abortion or operative delivery. Bronchial hyperreactivity associated with asthma is an important risk factor of perioperative bronchospasm. The occurrence of this potentially life-threatening condition in anesthesia practice varies from 0.17 to 4.2%. The anesthesiologists' goal should be to minimize the risk of inciting bronchospasm and to avoid triggering stimuli. As increases in airway resistance are noticed, therapy should be directed towards optimizing oxygenation and proper diagnosis needs to be established. With deepening anesthesia level and aggressive pharmacological management utilizing both, beta-agonists and steroids, respiratory failure may be properly controlled.

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