Alan David Kaye

This book is a doozie!

If there is one thing that I will commend about this book, it's that the writing is fluid, straightforward and gets to the point without the fluff you will find in a myriad of other anesthesiology books.

This is not a book for the rookie that doesn't know how to differenciate an inductor with an analgesic during TBA. The book assumes you already know the basics and it serves as an excellent quickie reference book for those questions that drive you mad such as why does laudanosine (a metabolite released during metabolism in both cisa and atracurium) cause seizures. It features all sorts of those little tidbits on the predominant anesthesia drugs including dibucaine number, the subdivisions of opiates and a nice chapter on local anesthestics.

However! There are some quirky things about the book. Induction dosage of propofol starts at 1 mg/kg? Is lidocaine a short acting or intermediate acting amine local anesthetic? Esmolol induction dosage seems sort of high as well...

You will also not get the dosages of everything for every application site. Spinal and Epidural anesthesia dosages are barely brushed in this book although some of the most dominant adverse effects are well explained. I did find the book's comment regarding a higher incidence of respiratory depression with epidural fentanyl vs sufentanyl to be odd. The book gives no mention for the TIVA heralded favorite remifentanyl. Heck, there is no TIVA chapter!

Speaking of something missing, there is no real chapter addressing inhalational anesthetics (except nitrous oxide). I find that to be odd considering inhalational anesthetics are breadwinners in everyday practice and the book has a such an easygoing writing style that they would have covered the predominant adverse effects very well.

I would have liked some images featuring the ion channel voltage channels and how different drug classes work. Benzodiacepines and Barbiturates both act on GABA-A channels but on different subunits which explains their varying effects. I guess since the book is heralded towards people that are expected to already know that, that they opted not to include it. I did like how they explained the TOF blockade although again, they seem to explain it as a reminder and not for first time readers that are still unfamiliar with that test.

This book doesn't even mention Thiopental (in the right patient, it's still a really trustworthy inductor), and it merely focuses on oral Tramadol without really explaining its myriad of effects. Suggamadex? Oh, why didn't they add more info? It's easy peasy. 8mg reversal typical neuroblockage, 16mg for RSI dosages, 32 mg for the rare case of intractable reversal. In my experience, this sweetie will revert RSI dosages of Rocu in a jiff at even 2 mg/kg. The stuff is epic and yet the USA is in the stone age because the FDA is taking forever to approve it (the adverse effects at the most are hypersensibility. The only thing stopping it from being a mainstay everyday drug for general anesthesia is the relatively prohibitive cost).

I would have wanted a chapter on pain modulation and more emphasis on the varying dosage concentrations of local anesthetics for neuroaxial anesthesia. It's the little things that are missing.

However, the book delivers well on being easy to read, only 900 pages long (yippie!) and a pretty straightforward book. Indeed a nice reference book as a quick reminder.

I give it 4 1/2 stars.… (meer)