Herbal medicines: Current trends in anesthesiology practice - A hospital survey

Study Objectives: To develop a simple survey to determine the patient population actively utilizing dietary supplements and/or herbs, during the preoperation period. Design: Prospective study, with survey instrument. Setting: University medical center. Patients: 1.017 patients presenting for preanesthetic evaluation prior to outpatient surgery. a survey listing which of the nine most popular nutraceuticals currently available on the market they were using. Measurements and Main Results: A total of 1017 surveys were submitted over a period of five months, with 32 % being poorly completed and thus discarded. Of the remaining 755 valid surveys. 482 patients used at least one nutraceutical agent. 90% of these patients were using vitamins, 43% garlic extracts, 32% Gingko Biloba, 30% St. John 's Wort, 18% Ma Huang 12% Ecchinaceae, 10% Aloe, 8% Cascare, 3% licorice. Conclusion: A significant population of patients scheduled for an elective surgical procedure are self-administering nutraceutical agents. Some of these agents have the potential to cause serious drug interactions and hemodynamic instability during surgery. Hence, it may be important to identify patients self-administering these medications, during the preoperative period (C) 2000 by Elsevier Science Inc.