Fentanyl Flashcards
What is Fentanyl and its medical uses?
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid analgesic, highly potent and used for anesthesia, pain relief during surgery, and postoperative pain management due to its rapid onset, short duration, and hemodynamic stability.
How does Fentanyl’s potency compare to morphine?
Fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, allowing for effective analgesia with smaller doses and reducing side effect risks.
Describe Fentanyl’s onset and duration of action.
It has a rapid onset (within minutes) and a short duration (30-60 minutes), ideal for short procedures and controlling pain levels during surgery.
What makes Fentanyl suitable for maintaining hemodynamic stability?
Fentanyl maintains hemodynamic stability, having minimal effects on blood pressure and heart rate, beneficial especially for patients with cardiovascular issues.
How is Fentanyl used in balanced anesthesia?
As part of balanced anesthesia, Fentanyl provides analgesia, complementing other drugs for muscle relaxation and unconsciousness, to minimize side effects and improve recovery.
Discuss Fentanyl’s role in postoperative pain management.
Fentanyl is used via PCA devices or in multimodal analgesia regimens for effective postoperative pain control, enhancing patient comfort and outcomes.
Detail Fentanyl’s mechanism of action.
Fentanyl acts on mu-opioid receptors to inhibit adenylate cyclase, modulate ion channels, and inhibit neurotransmitter release, effectively blocking pain transmission in the CNS.
What are the key pharmacological characteristics of Fentanyl?
A phenylpiperidine-derivative opioid, 100 times more potent than morphine, highly lipid soluble, with significant first-pass pulmonary uptake and metabolism via hepatic P450 enzymes.
How does Fentanyl interact with other medications?
It potentiates the effects of benzodiazepines and, due to its high lipid solubility, has significant first-pass pulmonary uptake.
What side effects are associated with Fentanyl?
Side effects include respiratory depression, bradycardia, hypotension, myoclonus, nausea, vomiting, itching, and constipation.
Explain Fentanyl’s clinical applications beyond pain management.
Clinically, Fentanyl blunts sympathetic responses to laryngoscopy and surgical stimulation, providing analgesia without myocardial depressant effects or histamine release.
Discuss the metabolism of Fentanyl.
Fentanyl is metabolized by N-demethylation to norfentanyl, primarily through hepatic P450 enzymes, affecting its duration and potency of analgesic effects.
Address Fentanyl’s potential for causing chest wall rigidity.
Fentanyl may induce chest wall rigidity, particularly at high doses or rapid administration rates, which can complicate ventilation.
What precautions should be considered due to Fentanyl’s potency?
Due to its potency and side effects, careful dosing, monitoring for respiratory depression, and readiness to manage side effects are crucial during Fentanyl use.
