Abstract
Anaesthesia has developed since the first description of curare. Today there are a myriad of anaesthetic and analgesic medicines available. This article explores the function of medicines in a patient ' s perioperative journey and describes how pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics play such a large role. The different routes of administration are described and the main categories of anaesthetic medicines outlined. The characteristics and precautions associated with the different classes of medicines are highlighted.
NB Unless otherwise indicated all information related to a medicine ' s dose, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics have been sourced from the Special Product Characteristics (SPC) of individual medicines available from the electronic Medicines Compendium at www.medicines.org.uk.
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