Sizing up Success: Reservoir Bag Calculations in Laboratory Animal Medicine

Presenter: Christina Fuller

The use of rebreathing and non-rebreathing circuits requires an appropriately sized reservoir bag in order to adequately and safely anesthetize your patient. By understanding how to calculate an appropriate reservoir bag size for your patient, one is able to provide adequate anesthesia and ensure your patient is being provided proper ventilation. This presentation provides the foundations of how to calculate the appropriately sized reservoir bag, and how choosing, or not choosing, the appropriately sized bag could affect your patient and research study. As surgical anesthetists, it’s our job to ensure patient safety and adequate anesthesia is achieved during surgery, thus why providing the patient with an appropriately sized reservoir bag is an essential part of an anesthesia circuit.