Herbal medicines: current trends in anesthesiology practice--a hospital survey.

STUDY OBJECTIVES

To develop a simple survey to determine the patient population actively utilizing dietary supplements and/or herbs, during the preoperative period.

DESIGN

Prospective study, with survey instrument.

SETTING

University medical center.

PATIENTS

1,017 patients presenting for preanesthetic evaluation prior to outpatient surgery.

INTERVENTIONS

After undergoing preanesthetic evaluation, patients were asked to complete a survey listing which of the nine most popular nutraceuticals currently available on the market they were using.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

A total of 1017 surveys were submitted over a period of five months, with 32% being poorly completed and thus discarded. Of the remaining 755 valid surveys, 482 patients used at least one nutraceutical agent. 90% of these patients were using vitamins, 43% garlic extracts, 32% Gingko Biloba, 30% St. John's Wort, 18% Ma Huang, 12% Ecchinaceae, 10% Aloe, 8% Cascare, 3% licorice.

CONCLUSION

A significant population of patients scheduled for an elective surgical procedure are self-administering nutraceutical agents. Some of these agents have the potential to cause serious drug interactions and hemodynamic instability during surgery. Hence, it may be important to identify patients self-administering these medications, during the preoperative period.