The Pharmacology of Inhaled Anesthetics by Eger

Students have the old song. It goes like this, "Aye, yi, yi yi! When will the other shoe drop? I can hear it gaining momentum, I can hear it starting to fall. Aye, yi, yi yi."

All together now. We can sing it out loud for every one to hear can't we?

What's all the crying about you ask. Well we got our first pharmacology test back to day and we were all singing the blues or is it that Spanish tune. I forget now. Anyway, the mean grade, quoting Dr. Gold, was somewhere in the "B" category which is about right, she says. That does not help ease the pain. If this is the worst they can pull out of the hat then everything is going to be alright. The beginning of a new class and course of study is difficult, they tell us.

This first Anesthesia Pharmacology exam is supposedly the worst of the semester so its down hill from here on out. That's one way of looking at it. We all survived and that's the good news so its on to the next little hill to climb.

Pharmacology of inhaled anesthetics. We received Dr Edmond Eger's book and two CD's, curtsey of Baxter pharmaceuticals. What makes this set really interesting is to see Dr. Eger conducting these lecture series and having him explain the basics of inhales anesthesia pharmacology to a group of experienced physician anesthesiologist and CRNA's. If any one wants a copy of these lectures just send me a note. These are classic lectures totaling about 8 hours of playing time and covers the material in the accompanying book. Thank you Baxter.

Here is another interesting web reference of the pharmacology of general anesthetic.

Science News is always a great place to look for interesting ideas. Here is an article recently published in the June 2004 issue, Comfortably Numb: Anesthetics are slowly giving up the secrets of how they work. In this article the newest theories of general anesthesia sites of action are discussed. This has been a very hot topic batted around anesthesia circles for a long time. The current thinking is that there are multiple sites in the brain and spinal cord that are the targets of drug action for inhaled anesthetic agents. Enjoy the article.

Update on shipment of Miller's Anesthesia 6th Edition.

Had you excited there for a minute didn't I. Well they still have not shipped the new edition yet and there is not new date for shipment. The publisher is holding its breath before they will let slip the new shipping date. In the mean time there is plenty of stuff to keep us busy without the new textbook.