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A Review Of Endoscopic Anesthesia

By Walter Fisher


Sedation is normally performed to patients for safe therapeutic or diagnostic procedures, and such procedures require highly trained physicians and highly suitable facilities. To add on that, the patients should be monitored during the sedation, and the physicians are required to use safe sedative techniques, and the application of the drugs should also be made efficiently. The patients are also assisted in recovering well after the procedure. Endoscopic anesthesia should thus be performed by physicians who are experienced to avoid further complications that can cost the life of a patient.

Usually, the sedation practices for the GIE vary in different states. The cases tend to be ambulatory most of the times, and these procedures are very short. Similarly, the sedative agents are also short acting and the cases adverse effects are very minimal since the physicians use the safety profiles that are recommended by the board governing the doctors.

More so, physicians should determine a pre-sedation assessment that is appropriate and use the correct dose of the analgesics. Although the procedures may vary in different states, the results are normally the same so long as the subject is well monitored and drug application is done accordingly. The GIE sedation should thus be handled only by doctors who are highly qualified and experienced so as to ensure the subject is safe during and after the procedure.

Analgesia is usually a very critical tool for procedures such as gastrointestinal endoscopy. Normally, the analgesics are used to make the patient more comfortable and to improve the performance of these procedures. The physicians thus decide whether the patient needs to be put under depending on the type of GIE, the time the procedure is likely to take, challenges that may be encountered, the physical status of the subject and preferences of a physician.

Although these procedures vary in various states, the ASA has come up with a standard SOP to act as the main benchmark for all doctors worldwide. This protocol explains terms such as minimal analgesia, moderate analgesia, deep and general analgesia to help physicians understand the conditions in details.

This protocol helps the physicians must be able to rescue patients from analgesia that has become deeper than what was targeted. Thus, it is important that the personnel performing the procedure be highly qualified and the patient to be monitored after the administration of the sedatives. Failure to follow the standard may lead to serious complications.

A pre-anesthesia assessment should be done, and the subjects should have an updated examination history that is relevant. The areas that are monitored during the sedation are the patterns of respiration, mucosa or skin color, the consciousness of the patient and whether the facial expression of patients indicates that they are in a comfortable level.

Some of the sedative compounds include ketamine that highly dissociates. It is commonly used to sedate children when the GIE procedures are about to be done. It can be administered through the rectal or oral route, intravenous or intramuscular as well. Midazolam is short-acting and water soluble. Others are propofol, pethidine, and fentanyl that cause similar effects to patients.




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