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Elsevier

Smith and Aitkenhead's Textbook of Anaesthesia

  • 8th Edition - April 11, 2025
  • Latest edition
  • Editors: Jonathan Thompson, Iain Moppett, Matthew Wiles
  • Language: English

**Selected for 2026 Doody's Core Titles in Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine**For over 40 years, this award-winning textbook has been the core text for anaesthetists new to the… Read more

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Description

**Selected for 2026 Doody's Core Titles in Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine**

For over 40 years, this award-winning textbook has been the core text for anaesthetists new to the specialty and other healthcare professionals involved in perioperative care. Now in its eighth edition, this high quality, clinically relevant resource continues to offer essential reading covering all aspects of anaesthesia in surgery.

Covering day-to-day clinical practice in anaesthesia and perioperative medicine, from preoperative assessment and optimisation to clinical anaesthesia and postoperative care, this practical guide also contains an overview of the scientific principles that underpin these practices. It includes topics such as relevant pharmacology and basic physiology; data analysis and statistics; physics; equipment and monitoring; safety and quality assurance; general, regional and local anaesthetic techniques for a full range of surgical specialties. In combining these aspects, it has been an invaluable resource for generations of anaesthetists.

Fully updated and now accompanied by ancillary videos, this book is ideal for all trainee anaesthetists including candidates for the Fellowship of Royal College of Anaesthetists and similar examinations.

Key features

  • Highly regarded internationally
  • Aligned to the FRCA syllabus – including the updated FRCA syllabus references linked to the relevant content of each chapter in the online ebook
  • Offers clear, concise and practical coverage of all aspects of anaesthesia and perioperative care, including intensive care and chronic pain management
  • Chapters extensively cross referenced for the reader

Readership

Trainee anaesthetists both at novice and intermediate level;

Table of contents

SECTION 1: Basic sciences

1. General principles of pharmacology

2. Data, statistics and clinical trials

3. Inhalational anaesthetic agents and medical gases

4. Intravenous anaesthetic and sedative drugs

5. Local anaesthetics

6. Physiology and pharmacology of pain

7. Nausea and vomiting

8. Muscle function and neuromuscular block

9. Cardiovascular system

10. Respiratory system

11. Renal system

12. Fluid, electrolyte and acid–base balance

13. Metabolism, stress responses and thermoregulation

14. Blood, coagulation and transfusion

SECTION 2: Physics and apparatus

15. Basic physics for the anaesthetist

16. Anaesthetic apparatus

17. Clinical measurement and monitoring

SECTION 3: Fundamentals of anaesthesia & perioperative medicine

18. Quality and safety in anaesthesia

19. Preoperative assessment and preparation

20. Intercurrent disease and anaesthesia

21. Consent and information for patients

22. The practical conduct of anaesthesia

23. Airway management

24. Pain management

25. Local and regional anaesthetic techniques

26. Complications during anaesthesia

27. Management of critical incidents

28. Resuscitation

29. Point-of-care ultrasound

30. Postoperative and recovery room care

31. Sustainability

SECTION 4: Clinical anaesthesia

32. Anaesthesia for the older person and/or those living with frailty

33. Anaesthesia for the patient with obesity

34. Paediatric anaesthesia

35. Anaesthesia for day surgery

36. Anaesthesia for general, gynaecological and genitourinary surgery

37. Anaesthesia for orthopaedic surgery

38. Anaesthesia for ear, nose and throat, maxillofacial and dental surgery

39. Anaesthesia for ophthalmic surgery

40. Anaesthesia for vascular, endocrine and plastic surgery

41. Anaesthesia for neurosurgery

42. Anaesthesia for thoracic surgery

43. Anaesthesia for cardiac surgery

44. Obstetric anaesthesia

45. Emergency and trauma anaesthesia

46. Anaesthesia in resource-poor areas

47. Anaesthesia outside the operating theatre

48. Anaesthesia and organ transplantation

49. Intensive care

Review quotes

Review of the previous edition:
"This book has my unreserved recommendation. I would happily use it myself and recommend it to anyone. It is aimed at a doctor in training but useable by any anaesthetist as it is almost like a ‘bible of anaesthesia’. This is an outstanding, relevant, comprehensive, expert book. It is very useful for current practice and an excellent source of reference. A must have in every anaesthetic department." --BMA Book Awards 2014 review

Product details

  • Edition: 8
  • Latest edition
  • Published: August 27, 2025
  • Language: English

About the editors

JT

Jonathan Thompson

Affiliations and expertise
Honorary Professor and Consultant in Anaesthesia and Critical Care, University of Leicester and University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Leicester, UK

IM

Iain Moppett

Iain Moppett is Professor of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine, Honorary Consultant Anaesthetist, Anaesthesia and Critical Care Section, Division of Clinical Neuroscience at University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
Affiliations and expertise
Professor of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine and Honorary Consultant Anaesthetist, University of Nottingham and Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, UK

MW

Matthew Wiles

Matthew Wiles is a Consultant in the Department of Anaesthesia at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield, UK
Affiliations and expertise
Consultant in Anaesthesia and Critical Care, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK