ABSTRACT
Asthma is a disease characterised by reversible airflow obstruction. As an anaesthetist one is going to encounter hundreds of patients with asthma. It is important that anaesthetist carefully assess each of these patients to ascertain their risks of undergoing anaesthesia and establish the best plan for delivering his anaesthetic. Regional anaesthesia is often a suitable technique in asthmatic patients. However, this relies on the operative site being amenable to regional anaesthesia and the consent of the patient. In elective cases, patients should bring their preventative inhalers to the anaesthetic room, where many anaesthetists will ask them to have their normal inhaled dose. It is important to recognise that many of the drugs used in everyday anaesthetic practice may cause or exacerbate bronchospasm by the release of histamine. It is not uncommon to cause bronchospasm at extubation. Acute bronchospasm may occur at any time. It is clearly different identifying bronchospasm during anaesthesia than it is in an awake patient.
