| Abstract: |
This chapter will focus on the memory effects of diverse sedative agents. To best understand the relationship between memory and sedation, an understanding of the physiology underlying not only sedation, but also sleep and memory is needed. This knowledge will not only ground a discussion of drug mechanisms but also will prepare for future developments providing the ability to put research and marketing initiatives into an appropriate context. One might consider the brain as two interacting sets of systems: A deep-seated, lower-level system containing subcortical/brainstem nuclei working in networks to control sleep and/or sedation interacts with a higher level, cortically based system of networks that mediate memory function and consciousness. To provide a contextual framework for understanding sedation, memory processes, amnesia, and sleep, terminology will be tackled. First will be the attempt to distinguish between sedation and anesthesia, only to become apparent through this chapter that there is actually little distinction between the two. The blurry distinction between sedation and anesthesia underlies the difficulty in producing coherent and consistent guidelines to match providers with sedation services. The key difference between sedation and anesthesia principally reflects the dose of drugs administered, and to a lesser extent the drugs administered. © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2012,2015. |
