The immune response to anesthesia: part 2 sedatives, opioids, and injectable anesthetic agents

Abstract

Objective: To review the immune response to injectable anesthetics and sedatives and to compare the immunomodulatory properties between inhalation and injectable anesthetic protocols.

Study design: Review.

Methods and databases: Multiple literature searches were performed using PubMed and Google Scholar from March 2012 through November 2013. Relevant anesthetic and immune terms were used to search databases without year published or species constraints. The online database for Veterinary Anaesthesia and Analgesia and the Journal of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care were searched by issue starting in 2000 for relevant articles.

Conclusion: Sedatives, injectable anesthetics, opioids, and local anesthetics have immunomodulatory effects that may have positive or negative consequences on disease processes such as endotoxemia, generalized sepsis, tumor growth and metastasis, and ischemia-reperfusion injury. Therefore, anesthetists should consider the immunomodulatory effects of anesthetic drugs when designing anesthetic protocols for their patients.

Keywords: anesthesia; anti-inflammatory; immunomodulation; immunosuppression; injectable anesthetic; sedative.