J Clin Anesth. 2000 Sep; 12(6): 468-71.

Herbal medicines: current trends in anesthesiology practice--a hospital survey.

Kaye AD, Clarke RC, Sabar R, Vig S, Dhawan KP, Hofbauer R, Kaye AM.

Department of Anesthesiology, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79430, USA.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: To develop a simple survey to determine the patient population actively utilizing dietary supplements and/or herbs, during the preoperative period. DESIGN: Prospective study, with survey instrument. SETTING: University medical center. PATIENTS: 1,017 patients presenting for preanesthetic evaluation prior to outpatient surgery. INTERVENTIONS: After undergoing preanesthetic evaluation, patients were asked to complete 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.