Anesthesiologists play a critical role in facilitating a positive perioperative experience and early recovery for patients. Depending on the kind of procedure or surgery, a wide variety of agents and techniques are currently available to anesthesiologists to administer safe and efficacious anesthesia. ⋯ It also ensures easier titration and reduced or rapidly reversed side effects. Due to their distinct pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties, and, in one case, rapid extra-hepatic clearance of remifentanil, these agents have several applications in general anesthesia.
Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. Electronic address: mandelj@uphs.upenn.edu.