Surgical intervention and anesthetic management of the patient with Parkinson's disease

With estimates as high as 1 million patients in the United States, Parkinson's disease is a relatively common neurological disorder. It has long been thought that the primary biochemical disturbance in Parkinson's disease is dopamine related. Accordingly, many drugs have been developed that increase the supply of dopamine, affect the biochemical balance of dopamine, or act as a dopamine substitute. These drugs may have significant interactions with anesthetic agents. In addition, there are several disease and drug-induced physiological aberrancies that can have profound anesthetic implications in the patient with Parkinson's disease (e.g., aspiration pneumonitis, myocardial irritability, hypotension, hypertension, and respiratory impairment). Although surgical therapy fur Parkinson's disease has a long history, with the advent of advanced neuroimaging techniques there has been a resurgence of these procedures (e.g., pallidotomy and thalamotomy) for advanced stages of Parkinson's disease. It is likely that these surgical procedures will become more commonplace, possibly prolonging the lifespan of patients with Parkinson's disease. Even though these cases are typically performed with local anesthesia, there are several important caveats to consider in the management of these patients (e.g., airway access with CNS changes, hypertension, and tremor). It's incumbent on anesthesiologists to become familiar with the special needs of patients with Parkinson's disease and alter the 'days in hell' attitude among these patients toward surgery and anesthesia.