[Anesthesia in ophthalmology (author's transl)].

General anesthesia in ophthalmological surgery has become a great fashion. However there are still many problems especially in intraocular surgery. The eye with normal intraocular pressure generally needs no special technique. Most of the usual anesthesia produce a slight hypotonia with the exception of Succinylcholine, whose effect is contrary. Unfortunately this is not the case in eyes with pathologically increased intraocular pressure as in the different forms of glaucoma. Eye surgeons and anesthesists therefore look for solutions to this problem which in principle consist in the application of medicaments, which not seldom are rather agressive. The controlled hypotension by ganglion blockers, the curarisation in the state of being awake, the rapid perfusion of solutions with high osmotique effect (isolated or associated) represent such measures. The one has the disadvantage to be applied during so-called subvigile anesthesias where the security that the patient is asleep is rather doubtful; the other has the disadvantage that it requires a rapid perfusion of solutions with highly osmotic effect. It goes without saying that these conditions represent risks especially if one considers that the candidates for this type of intervention very often are senile persons with prearious cardiovascular equilibrium, with insufficient renal function and with insufficient arterial cerebral circulation. These are some of the problems which are to be discussed.