Contents of Today's Veterinary Practice - JAN-FEB 2012

Today's Veterinary Practice provides comprehensive information to keep every small animal practitioner up to date on companion animal medicine and surgery as well as practice building and management.

Page 24 of 83

PEER REVIEWED
ANESTHETIC N
This article is the first one in a series that will discuss the goals of anesthetic monitoring as well as associated procedures and equipment. In this first article, the authors provide an overview of modern anesthetic monitoring and answer questions about why and how to provide cutting-edge anesthesia for your patients.
LINKS TO ANESTHESIA GUIDELINES To read the American College of Veterinary Anesthesiologists and American Animal Hospital Association anesthesia guidelines, go to acva.org/docs/Small_Animal_ Monitoring_2009.doc and aahanet. org/PublicDocuments/Anesthesia_ Guidelines_for_Dogs_and_Cats.pdf, respectively.
MONITORING Your Questions Answered
Jeff Ko, DVM, MS, Diplomate ACVA, and Rebecca Krimins, DVM
oninvasive monitoring techniques in the anesthe- tized dog and cat have been described since the 1990s.1
More recently, major advances in technol-
ogy have improved the efficiency and affordability of equipment. These advancements, in turn, have improved veterinarians' and anesthetists 'abilities to detect abnor- malities in the anesthetized patient. Advances in anesthetic monitoring have led to a "gold
standard" approach that emphasizes: UÊ ««Ào«Ài>ÌiÊVliniV>lÊiÛ>lÕ>Ìion UÊ/À>inin}ÊovÊ«iÀÃonnil UÊ*Ài>niÃÌhiÌiVÊiÛ>lÕ>Ìion UÊ `Û>nVi`ÊmoniÌoÀin}ÊÌiVhniµÕið
All of the above help minimize adverse side effects of anesthesia and surgery.
Why Monitor Anesthetized Patients? Anesthetic agents coupled with invasive procedures can cause drastic hemodynamic changes in the patient's cardiorespiratory system (Table 1, page 24). In addi- tion, each patient exhibits different physiologic and pharmacologic responses to anesthetic agents. Because these responses are not always predictable, it is vital to monitor each patient closely. *Àom«ÌÊ`iÌiVÌionÊovÊÀiëiÀ>ÌoÀÞÊoÀÊhimo`Þn>miVÊ
instability allows the anesthetist time to properly diag- nose what is happening and intervene. This, in turn, prevents morbidity, such as cardiorespiratory collapse, which, if otherwise untreated, can lead to mortality. Furthermore, despite successful sophisticated surgery or diagnostic procedures, lack of a rapid and smooth recovery may defeat the purpose of performing them. Saved by Monitoring (Case 1, page 25, and Case
2, page 27) describes how anesthetic monitoring made a difference in the surgical experience of two patients.
January/February 2012 Today's Veterinary Practice 23