A Practical Approach to Anesthesia for Emergency Surgery

Book excerpt: There is a large influx of trauma, general surgical, pediatric, neurosurgical and obstetric emergencies as the hospital is one of the major public hospitals located in a densely populated region sitting amidst major routes in the city. It also provides services for emergency cardiovascular, cerebrovascular interventions and cadaver transplants. Daily lessons from this tremendous emergency work inspired us to bring out this book. There is plethora of reference material available in basic sciences related to anesthesiology, namely physiology, pharmacology, physics and anatomy. Similarly, a large number of textbooks are on techniques such as general, regional, monitored anesthesia care as well as super specialties like cardiac, neurosurgical and pediatric anesthesia, etc. But there is a limited availability of books and references for emergency anesthesia. One has to scan and integrate parts from various sources. This book is an attempt to assimilate the scattered information and add clinical expertise. Contents of this book have been divided into nine sections to cover majority of the emergencies. General considerations for adults, obstetric and pediatric sections have been written separately to avoid duplication. An additional challenge is cases with various medical disorders for emergency surgeries. Efforts have been taken to accommodate them in first section and obstetric section. The contributors of this book work together at LTMMC and LTMGH and have a well-balanced team with fresh talent bringing the latest technological knowledge and tenured practitioners supplementing it with applied experience. Part of the team worked on collection of the matter from different sources for an ideal scenario, while the senior faculty members used their vast clinical experience for a more practical and realistic application. These combined efforts have been truly beneficial to achieve our goal to rationally mix latest technology with clinical experience and identify potential ways to conduct anesthesia with best results, at least costs and minimum risk.