Basics of Paediatric Anaesthetic Pharmacology:A Review Based on Practical Challenges

Pediatric patients have always been special patients, in fact the most challenging ones for the attending physicians. These tiny tots apart from being fun to deal with can be quite enigmatic and sometimes a nightmare for the healthcare provider. There exists definitive anatomical, physiological, developmental and pharmacological differences between the adult and pediatric patients and a failure to comprehend this can result in devastating albeit avoidable morbidity and mortality. Also occurrence of pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic differences between the adult and pediatric patients makes the safe drug therapy of these patients quite intriguing. However during the process of dealing with the pediatric patients one gains new insights which influence their overall management. The purpose of the present review is therefore to highlight pediatric pharmacology and the need of blending our practical experiences as regards to the pediatric drug therapy with the current available knowledge and literature so as to improvise the pediatric care delivery significantly by the attending physicians and the anesthesiologists.