Overview of anesthesia for primary care physicians.

Primary care physicians are frequently asked to evaluate patients before elective surgery. Familiarity with anesthetic technique and physiologic processes can help primary care physicians identify risk factors for perioperative complications, optimize patient care, and enhance communication with surgeons and anesthesiologists. To this end, we review the physiologic processes accompanying tracheal intubation and general and regional anesthesia. There is no convincing evidence that regional anesthesia is safer than general anesthesia. In addition to replacing fluid losses from the surgical field and insensible losses, intraoperative fluid administration may attenuate the cardiovascular and renal effects of anesthesia. Therefore, recommendations to limit fluids should be made with caution and should be tempered with an understanding of intraoperative fluid requirements. An understanding of the physiologic processes of anesthesia, combined with preoperative risk stratification strategies, will enhance a primary care physician's ability to provide meaningful preoperative evaluations.