Technological advancements and Emerging trends in Anesthesia Equipment

The medical practice of administering Anesthesia inevitably banks on technology and its advancements. The recent technologies used in anaesthesia administration have been oriented toward handling the surge in volume, variability, and complexity of patient records. Anesthesia is more of pre-operative care rather than intraoperative procedures. The key trends in anaesthesia equipment are listed below,

1. Leverage of ultrasound techniques – Ultrasound guidance with AI and ML methodologies aids the anaesthesia equipment, which adds positive outcomes and timely discharge of the patient. The latest methodologies help to understand deep at individual nerve/plexus levels.
2. Digital flow meters help the clinician/user to deliver the specific amount of anaesthetic gases precisely, especially while operating with low-flow anaesthesia.
3. Laryngeal Mask Airway (LMA) is a tube comprising an inflated cuff that can be inserted in the pharynx to protect the airway, which will not require paralyzing the patient. These are very easy to use and have less discomfort.
4. ETCO2 and SpO2 Monitoring – Non-invasive EtCo2 and Spo2 monitoring are the key features that will help the clinician diagnose early obstruction in the airway during the pre-operative procedures. It also helps the clinicians to understand whether or not the ventilation is adequate.
5. Pain Pumps – For the timely discharge of the patient, targeting multimodal pain management is imminent. A single-shot nerve block that sustains the entire surgery or an electronic pain pump with localized pain relief can be used.
6. Information Management (IM) and Decision Support Systems – Highly sophisticated hardware and software systems have evolved in anaesthesia IM systems which are integrated with the Electronic Health Record (EHR) of the hospital and help to annotate the intraoperative practices. Integration of IM with the Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS) provides an efficient and optimized way of delivery. This can also administer beta blocker medication, curtailing the dissemination of inhaled anaesthetic agents, and modernizing the administration of hypertension/hypotension medications.
7. Depth of anaesthesia monitoring – BIS monitors can administer the target sites and can assess simultaneously the level of consciousness.