What is anesthesia?
Anesthesia is the administration of drugs or gases to create insensitivity to pain before surgical operations.
The word comes from the Greek “an” meaning “without,” and “aesthesis” or “sensation.” The word anesthesia was coined by the famous 19th
century physician and poet Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., in 1846.
Who are anesthesiologists and what do they do?
During surgery, anesthesia is administered for pain relief or “depression of consciousness.”
Before a major surgery, anesthesiologists administer general anesthesia
, which causes full loss of consciousness in the patient.
The responsibility of the anesthesiologist is to manage the patient’s pain while monitoring vital life functions, such as breathing, blood pressure, heart rate and homeostasis, as well as blood transfusions, if required.
As the patient recovers from surgery, anesthesia in the form of dissociative drugs – either oral or injectable – may be administered. These drugs partially sedate the patient to ease pain and distress.
Anesthesiologists are extensively trained doctors specializing in human physiology, diseases and pre-operative medical evaluations, life support and pain control while a patient undergoes surgery, post-op recovery, intensive-care training and chronic and acute pain management.
What are the various types of anesthesia?
The different types of anesthesia include:
What are the most common surgeries that use general anesthesia?
- Local – Anesthesia in a single part of the body, such as a tooth or area of skin. Local anesthesia is commonly used during dental procedures to reduce pain. It is the preferable and safer type of anesthesia for many situations, including cesarean section, since the patient still has consciousness and is not fully sedated.
- Regional – Anesthesia in a larger part of the body than local anesthesia, such as a limb. The patient is not fully sedated.
- General – Anesthesia that “puts the patient under” into a state of unconsciousness or sedation. During general anesthesia, a patient will lose normal response to pain, memory, motor reflexes and consciousness, and will experience muscle relaxation.
- Dissociative – Anesthesia brought on by dissociative drugs causing marked sensory loss and loss of pain and memory but not accompanied by actual loss of consciousness. A common effect of dissociative anesthesia is hallucinations.
Heart, lung and abdominal surgery are the most common surgeries using general anesthesia.
During surgery, anesthesia must affect breathing. How is the patient able to breathe under general anesthesia?
A patient’s muscles, including the lungs, are relaxed during anesthesia to allow for easier access during surgery. A breathing tube inserted into the mouth after administration of anesthesia helps maintain ventilation and oxygen levels. Vital signs, including breathing and oxygen levels, are monitored throughout the surgery with a continuous pulse oximetry machine.
How is anesthesia administered?
It can be given in one of two ways:
How Safe is Outpatient Surgery?
- Intravenously – Through an IV directly into the blood stream
- Anesthesia mask – In gas form, administered through a mask placed over the patient’s nose and mouth