ABSTRACT
Anesthesia should always proceed in the same order so that nothing is forgotten. Forgetting any step can compromise the patient. Insuring that the patient is healthy and ready to go through anesthesia is one of the most important steps in administering safe anesthesia. Assessing anesthetic depth is one of the most important jobs of the anesthetist. Central nervous system depression is necessary but unfortunately it is very easy to over-anesthetize the patient. This is very dangerous because it can cause dysfunction of all organ systems and can rapidly lead to death. During the maintenance phase of anesthesia the anesthetic depth should be continuously assessed and the vaporizer percent changed as needed to deliver anesthesia ‘to effect’. Analgesia should be reassessed and monitoring and support should be provided as needed for each patient. Sevoflurane is faster-acting than isoflurane so if rapid change in anesthetic depth or rapid recovery from anesthesia is necessary/desired, sevoflurane is a better choice.
