After a long period of neglect, the gastrointestinal tract is increasingly being recog nized as an important target of anesthetics and anesthesia-related processes, as well as of conditions and treatments related to peri- and postoperative period and inten sive care. Drugs used in anesthesia and intensive care and physiological or pathologi cal changes in the perioperative period affect the digestive system in its function from the pharynx to the colon. Prolonged postoperative ileus or stasis of propulsive peri stalsis in the critically ill or multiply injured patient may impair enteral nutrition and give rise to complications such as sepsis or multiple organ failure. In view of this new understanding of the clinical relevance of gut function, we felt that a book on problems of the gastrointestinal tract in anesthesia, the perioperative period, and intensive care was badly needed. The present volume is the product of an international symposium which brought together physiologists, pharmacologists, experimental and clinical anesthetists, gastroenterologists, surgeons, and intensive care physicians to discuss all major contemporary aspects of bowel function in health and under the influence of anesthesia, surgery, and intensive care."

Anhand von In-vivo-Experimenten werden in diesem Buch die Herz-Kreislauf-Funktion sowie die sympathoadrenergen und -nervalen Auswirkungen des akuten an{sthesieinduzierten Hyperthermiegeschehens dargestellt. Simultan durchgef}hrte Analysen an Herz- und Skelettmuskulatur erm-glichen dabei einen direkten Vergleich der funktionellen, metabolischen, enzymatischen und morphologischen Ver{nderungen an beiden Geweben. Dazu kommen umfangreiche histologische und histochemische Untersuchungen . Mit diesen Befunden und erg{nzenden tierexperimentellen In-vitro-Studien leistet der Autor eine wichtigen Beitrag zur Kl{rung der Frage nach einer Prim{rbeteiligung des Myokards bei maligner Hyperthermie und zur Erhellung der pathophysiologischen Zusammenh{nge dieser lebensbedrohlichen Narkosekomplikationen.