Anesthesia for Diagnostic and Therapeutic Radiological Procedures

Abstract

The traditional role of the radiology department has changed in recent years. The conventional use of X-ray has been augmented by introduction of new invasive and non-invasive diagnostic imaging techniques. So, the need to induce anesthesia for some patients undergoing radio-diagnostic studies is necessary. The radiology department, the anesthesiologist will find some problems. Initially, the anesthesiologist is called to do his work in non-operating location not originally designed for the purpose of providing anesthesia. But the main problems are airway management, relative inaccessibility of the patient and monitoring. The imaging room of MRI and CT must be kept very cool for proper operation of the machine. So, the control of patients’ temperature may prove very difficult. The major radiologic requirement for a successful radio-diagnostic study is that the patient should remains motionless during the examinations. So, general anesthesia is indicated in uncooperative patients like infants and young children, cooperative patients who have movement disorders, confused, demented and for restless head-injured patients. Preanesthetic assessment and preparation of the patient undergoing radiological examinations are very beneficial. There are several techniques and plans for induction and maintenance of anesthesia e.g. parentral, oral, rectal and endotracheal general anesthesia. Also, monitoring of the anesthetized patients undergoing radiological procedures is very essential. Remote monitoring is very suitable because the patient is usually out of reach during the procedure. Monitoring of the cardiovascular, respiratory systems and body temperature is discussed in brief. Computerized tomography (CT) is fundamentally a non-invasive, highly accurate diagnostic technique aiming to produce a series of images by tomographic methods. Anesthesia for CT