Neuropsychiatric pharmacology for the anaesthetist

Abstract

Neuropsychiatric conditions are placing an increasing burden on healthcare systems around the world, including South Africa. Providing anaesthesia to patients who are treated with neuropsychiatric agents is becoming a regular occurrence. Emphasis needs to be placed on understanding the pharmacological interactions of these various drug classes with anaesthetic drugs. This review includes antidepressants, anti-anxiety, mood stabilisers, and antipsychotics, and highlights new emerging treatments. Within each class, focus is placed on the physiological alterations related to the drug, the drug interactions, and rare but fatal conditions, such as serotonin syndrome (SS) and neuroleptic malignant syndrome.