waveforms let providers notice if the patient starts to have an airway
obstruction or suffers a bronchospasm. That level of performance isn't
necessarily needed for the average healthy patient, but might prove
invaluable when caring for the increasing number of complex patients
undergoing surgery in the outpatient setting.
3. Age-specific anesthesia
The anesthesia provider's goal is to avoid anesthetizing patients too
deeply, which can slow recoveries, or too lightly, which creates the
potential for awareness. This can be challenging. The very young and
the very old require varying amounts of anesthetic agents, and those
amounts change depending on the agent being used.
To assist in this effort, many of the modern machines display a calcu-
lated minimum alveolar concentration (MAC) of anesthetic agent based
on the patient's age. This provides real-time tracking of one important
indicator of anesthetic depth to ensure it's in the target MAC for individ-
ual patients.
4. Economy of use
The newer anesthesia machines have fewer connections and minimal
leaks. This, plus precise control over flow and anesthetic concentra-
tion, allows for secure low-flow anesthesia (or even closed-circuit
anesthesia) with overall decreased agent use. Rather than running 5-
liter flows with 6% desflurane or 2% sevoforane, you can dial the flow
of gases way down to the exact amount of oxygen and inhalational
agent needed.
Inhalation agents are pricey — a bottle of sevoflurane costs about
$240, for example. The savings add up quickly if you can go through a
day using half a bottle instead of a bottle and a half.
Some of the latest machines display calculated usages of anesthetic
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