New anesthesia dosing models may increase safety of remifentanil for obese patients and children
Current models for remifentanil dosing are based on more average-sized adult patients, which can result in inaccurate dosing for some patients. If a child receives too little remifentanil, the result could be needless pain, while an obese patient receiving too much could be at risk of an overdose, resulting in life-threatening depression of breathing and circulation. "Providing accurate anesthesia dosing guidelines for obese patients is becoming increasingly important as the obesity epidemic grows and more of these patients require surgery," said Talmage D. Egan, M.D., chair in the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Salt Lake City. "The percentage of American adults who are seriously overweight has dramatically increased. The question we wanted to answer in our study was how to personalize therapy for obese patients so that we give them just the right dose." Traditionally, physician anesthesiologists have based dosin...