Pretreatment
Pretreatment consists of the medications given to specific groups of high-risk patients 3 minutes before the paralysis stage with the aim of protecting the patient from the adverse effects of introducing the laryngoscope and endotracheal tube. Intubation causes increased sympathetic activity, an increase in intracranial pressure and bronchospasm. Patients with reactive airway disease, increased intracranial pressure, or cardiovascular disease may benefit from pretreatment. Two common medications used in the pretreatment of RSI include Lidocaine and Atropine. Lidocaine has the ability to suppress the cough reflex which in turn may mitigate increased intracranial pressure. For this reason Lidocaine is commonly used as a pretreatment for trauma patients who are suspected of already having an increase in intracranial pressure. Although there is not yet definitive evidence to support this, if proper dosing is used it is safe. The typical dose is 1.5 mg/kg IV given three minutes prior to intubation. Atropine may also be used as a premedication agent in pediatrics to prevent bradycardia caused by hypoxia, laryngoscopy, and succinylcholine. Atropine is a parasympathetic blocker. The common premedication dose for atropine is 0.01–0.02 mg/kg. Paralysis with induction
With standard intravenous induction of general anesthesia, the patient typically receives an opioid, and then a hypnotic medication. Generally the patient will be manually ventilated for a short period of time before a neuromuscular blocking agent is administered and the patient is intubated. During rapid sequence induction, the person still receives an IV opioid.
Combination therapy
Amlodipine can be given as a combination therapy with a variety of medications:
Amlodipine/atorvastatin, where amlodipine is given for hypertension or CAD and atorvastatin prevents cardiovascular events, or if the person also has high cholesterol. Amlodipine/aliskiren or amlodipine/aliskiren/hydrochlorothiazide if amlodipine alone cannot reduce blood pressure. Aliskiren is a renin inhibitor, which works to reduce primary hypertension (that with no known cause) by binding to renin and preventing it from initiating the renin–angiotensin system (RAAS) pathway to increase blood pressure. Hydrochlorothiazide is a diuretic and decreases overall blood volume. Amlodipine/benazepril if either drug has failed individually, or amlodipine alone caused edema. Benazepril is an ACE inhibitor and blocks the conversion of angiotensin I to angiotensin II in the RAAS pathway. Amlodipine/celecoxib
Amlodipine/lisinopril
Amlodipine/olmesartan or amlodipine/olmesartan/hydrochlorothiazide if amlodipine is insufficient in reducing blood pressure. Olmesartan is an angiotensin II receptor antagonist and blocks part of the RAAS pathway. Amlodipine/perindopril if using amlodipine alone caused edema. Perindopril is a long-lasting ACE inhibitor. Amlodipine/telmisartan, where telmisartan is an angiotensin II receptor antagonist. Amlodipine/valsartan or amlodipine/valsartan/hydrochlorothiazide, where valsartan is an angiotensin II receptor antagonist. Contraindications
The only absolute contraindication to amlodipine is an allergy to amlodipine or any other dihydropyridines.Other situations occur, however, where amlodipine generally should not be used. In patients with cardiogenic shock, where the hearts ventricles are not able to pump enough blood, calcium channel blockers exacerbate the situation by preventing the flow of calcium ions into cardiac cells, which is required for the heart to pump.