| Alfaxan® top tips |
You and your practice staff face the day-to-day
challenges of running a busy operating theatre,
routinely premedicating and anaesthetising
your patients for surgery or other, less invasive,
procedures.
We at Vetoquinol recognise the complexity of
your routine tasks and have, therefore, created
this guide with only one purpose in mind - to
make your experience of Alfaxan® as easy,
pleasant and simple as possible. This document
is a product of joint efforts of a number of
leading UK anaesthesia experts and Vetoquinol’s
veterinary services team. Its aim is to help you
and your colleagues optimise the way in which
you use Alfaxan® to anaesthetise your patients
every day.
We sincerely hope that this guide will make your daily Alfaxan® routine an enjoyable one
and maximise your confidence and trust in the
product.
|
|
Premedication Phase: |
| How to optimise the
effect of your premeds |
| Good and effective premedication is paramount
to the overall quality of anaesthesia and a
good protocol is paramount to a smooth and
uneventful recovery. The ideal premedication
should: |
| 1. |
Calm the patient - reduce stress
and aid handling |
| 2. |
Provide appropriate analgesia |
| 3. |
Reduce the dose of induction and
maintenance agents |
| 4. |
Premedicate the patients according
to their clinical requirements (weight
should not be the only factor; different
agents and dosages may be needed to
provide adequate premedication) |
| 5. |
Premedicate animals in relation to
the planned induction time (avoiding
blanket premedication on admittance) |
| 6. |
Adhere to manufacturers’ recommendations.
Route of administration can make a large
difference to systemic absorption and effect |
|
|
| Induction of anaesthesia: |
| How to get the best out of your routine use
of Alfaxan® |
| When you use Alfaxan® routinely, it is vital to
be aware that induction can differ from other
agents: |
| 1. |
Premedication choice will affect the dose
of Alfaxan® needed |
| |
| • |
We advise that when you first use
Alfaxan® please inject the full dose
(unless using an alpha-2-agonist* as
a premedicant) slowly, over 60 seconds
to minimise the risk of induction apnoea |
|
| 2. |
An animal anaesthetised with Alfaxan® will be sedated very soon after you
commence injecting |
| |
| • |
You may be tempted to stop injecting and attempt intubation too soon if deep
sedation is mistaken for anaesthesia |
| • |
Check eye position, blink reflex and
jaw tone to assess depth of anaesthesia |
|
| 3. |
Under-dosing may result in a reduced period of general anaesthesia caused by Alfaxan® which may not be long enough for the animals to adequately undergo the
‘transition’ from anaesthesia caused by
the injectable agent to that caused by the
inhalational agent. As a result, animals
may appear very light or even regain
consciousness |
| 4. |
When you become more familiar with
Alfaxan® you may find that anaesthetic depth is achieved at less than the total
calculated dose (depending upon the
chosen premedication regime). |
| |
* Please contact the Alfaxan® Technical support line for
more information |
|
|
| Post induction phase: |
| What to expect after
administering Alfaxan® |
| Immediately post induction there are some
differences to other agents to be aware of: |
| 1. |
Respiratory rates may be slightly increased and the tidal volume may be larger than with other anaesthetics |
| 2. |
Heart rate may be higher than you are used to due to a physiological baroreceptor
response to maintain cardiac output (and thus perfusion) |
| |
| • |
This is a positive aspect of Alfaxan® anaesthesia and care should be taken
not to misinterpret this as insufficient
anaesthetic depth. Check anaesthetic
depth using eye position, blink reflex
and jaw tone |
|
|
|
| Anaesthetic recovery: |
| How to achieve good
quality recoveries |
| Alfaxan® is a short-acting induction agent and
so recoveries should be smooth and rapid with
a quick return to normal mentation. Because
recoveries can be rapid: |
| 1. |
Turn off volatile agents after any surgical
stimulus has ended |
| 2. |
For minimum stimulation during the
recovery period it is recommended to move
patients to recovery facilities as soon as
possible after surgery is finished |
| 3. |
Leave animals to recover in calm,
warm and quiet surroundings |
| 4. |
Ensure adequate analgesia in recovery |
| 5. |
Monitor temperature until normothermic: |
| |
| • |
Hypothermia: |
| |
• |
Is very common in recovery (in a
10kg animal an hour long anaesthetic
procedure can drop body temperature
by 3-4 degrees Celsius)1 |
| |
• |
Will cause shivering, which will
increase pain at the surgical site and
may prolong recovery |
| |
• |
Has been shown to increase the risk
of post-operative wound infections2 |
| |
• |
Has been shown to increase
intra-operative bleeding2 |
|
|
