Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors and Anesthesia: An Updated Literature Review

Safe anesthesia for patients taking MAOIs has been possible since the 1980s using judicious choice of agents. The introduction of a new class of MAOIs (RIMA) has increased the margin of safety for these anesthetics. These drugs allow selective and rapidly reversible inhibition of type A-MAO. The pharmacologic effects of this new class of drug as well as their potential interactions with agents used in anesthesia are reviewed.