Andreas Meiser summarizes the current literature on inhalation sedation of critically ill patients. To meet clinical demands, he describes the development of new devices to administer volatile anesthetics together with common ICU ventilators. Their basic principle is called anesthetic reflection. The author discusses advantages and drawbacks of these devices in line with clinical studies demonstrating advantages of inhaled versus intravenous ICU sedation.

Dr. med. Andreas Meiser is working as a consultant anesthesiologist on the interdisciplinary operative ICU of the Saarland University Medical Center. He has been a pioneer in the field of inhalation ICU sedation. He has been treating patients using the AnaConDa administration devices since 2004, and has published many original articles in scientific journals on the subject.