Anesthetic agents in trauma patients

Trauma patients may require sedation or anesthesia far diagnostic procedure s, surgical procedures, or therapeutic intervention but may have injuries t o the cardiovascular, respiratory, or nervous systems. Some of the anesthet ic agents available may be inappropriate if they adversely affect systems a lready compromised in a patient. It is therefore important to be familiar w ith the characteristics of the various classes of anesthetic agents. This a rticle discusses the mechanisms of action, advantages, and disadvantages of certain anesthetic agents, including anticholinergics, alpha(2) adrenorece ptor agonists, phenothiazines, benzodiazepines, opioids, barbiturates, prop ofol, etomidate, ketamine, neuromuscular blockers, and volatile anesthetics .