Topic overview

Start with the big picture

The lesson begins with the main classes of anaesthesia and the goals of balanced general anaesthesia, including unconsciousness, analgesia, amnesia, akinesia, and autonomic stability. It introduces the classic stages of general anaesthesia and explains how modern agents relate to surgical anaesthesia. For inhalational agents, MAC and the blood:gas partition coefficient provide frameworks for comparing potency and the speed of induction and recovery. The overview also contrasts common mechanisms of action and intravenous induction agents, then surveys important adverse effects. Local anaesthesia is introduced through sodium-channel blockade, ester and amide classes, metabolism, factors affecting onset, systemic toxicity, and regional techniques. Epinephrine use, pre-anaesthetic medications, risk stratification, and malignant hyperthermia are also signposted.