Physics for Anesthesiologists

This book discusses, explains and provides detailed, up-to-date information on physics applied to clinical practice in anesthesiology, with the aid of simple examples from daily life. Almost everything that happens around us, including in the operating room and intensive care units, can be explained by physical laws. An awareness and understanding of relatively simple laws  such as Bernoulli’s theorem, Hagen-Poiseuille equation and Pascal’s principle, to name just a few, offer anesthesiologists and intensivists fascinating insights into why they do what they do.

Each of the 16 chapters starts with an everyday phenomenon, explains it with a physical law, and then shows why that law is important in anesthesia practice. Numerous illustrations are included for extra clarity.

It is intended for anesthesiologists, intensivists, anesthesia teachers, anesthesia trainees, and medical students.

“Antoni Pisano provides a lot of useful information about physics in general and applied physics in anesthesia and critical care in specific. … this book is a perfect match for both junior residents and experienced staff members. One may read it for pleasure and enjoy the funny examples or use it to quickly review some formulas. It may be a good companion for both the couch at home and the operating room.” (Peter Markus Spieth, Anesthesia & Analgesia, Vol. 127 (2), August, 2018)

Antonio Pisano is staff anesthesiologist and intensivist at the Cardiac Anesthesia and Intensive Care Unit of the Monaldi High Specialty and University Hospital, A.O. “Dei Colli”, Naples, Italy. His many scientific contributions include, among others, papers published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association, Critical Care Medicine, Anesthesia & Analgesia, and the American Heart Journal. He is author of several book chapters in the field of anesthesiology, critical care medicine, and non-invasive ventilation, including a chapter of the 7th edition of the renowned Kaplan’s Cardiac Anesthesia. He is also co-editor of the book “Reducing Mortality in Acute Kidney Injury” published by Springer in 2016. Currently, he is principal investigator in several multicenter randomized trials and he collaborates with various international journals as a reviewer. Of course, he is also a great physics enthusiast!