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Anesthesia and Analgesia Guidelines
Proper peri-operative pain control and anesthesia are critical to humane treatment of
laboratory animals. Each institution’s staff veterinarian should be contacted for proper
analgesic and anesthetic protocols and training before survival surgery is attempted.
The use of pre- and post-surgical analgesics is strongly encouraged for all surgical
manipulations performed on laboratory animals. “The proper use of anesthetics and
analgesics in research animals is an ethical imperative…The selection of the most
appropriate analgesic or anesthetic should reflect professional judgment as to which best
meets clinical and humane requirements without compromising the scientific aspects of the
research protocol.”
1
Questions regarding the use of analgesics should be directed to your
staff veterinarian.
Typically, the surgical procedure for the
TS-
L11 will require 60 minutes of surgical
anesthesia, and the surgical procedure for the
TS-
L21 device will require approximately
120 minutes of surgical anesthesia. Intermittent positive pressure mechanical ventilation is
required any time the thoracic cavity is opened, such as during placement of a left
ventricular pressure catheter. Appropriate use of this technique is essential, and should be
directed by the staff veterinarian. The surgical procedures described in this manual were
developed using inhalational anesthesia consisting of Isoflurane delivered in 100% Oxygen.
These recommendations are intended as a guide only and should be modified to the
individual animal and institution’s protocol.
Anesthetized animals are predisposed to hypothermia. The use of supplemental heat
sources such as warm water re-circulating heating pads or Bair Huggers® are important to
maintain baseline body temperature. Hypothermia will prolong the recovery period and may
result in animal loss.
For additional help in determining an appropriate anesthetic protocol, the staff veterinarian
should be contacted. DSI has also prepared an Anesthesia Reference Manual as a guide
to assist in choosing an appropriate anesthetic agent for a wide variety of common
laboratory species.
1
Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, NRC,
National Academy Press
, 1996
[MES5]
