Drug interactions and the clinical anaesthetist

Abstract

In clinical practice, anaesthetists encounter many patients who are on concurrent medication which may have the potential to interact with drugs used during anaesthesia. Many patients are receiving as many as a dozen drugs of various kinds, thus, increasing the risk of a drug interaction occurring. Unfortunately, anaesthetists tend not to report drug interactions which occur during anaesthesia—especially those of a minor nature such as flushing—and hence, the true number of drug interactions is unknown. We have developed a chart indicating the nature of important interactions that the anaesthetist may encounter.