Yes. Depending on the surgery and patient factors, anesthesia can include general anesthesia, regional anesthesia, and/or epidural/spinal anesthesia.
The anesthetic drug is usually injected into the tissue to numb just the specific location of your body, requiring minor surgery, for example, on the hand or foot.
Your anesthesiologist may offer this in place of or in addition to general anesthesia. Regional anesthesia involves administering relaxation medication into your IV, then injecting local anesthesia medications near a specific nerve or group of nerves to help with the pain of surgery. Another frequently used technique to help facilitate patient comfort is either spinal or epidural anesthesia in which your anesthesiologist will very carefully inject local anesthesia near the spinal cord.
Many surgeries require general anesthesia. This entails your anesthesiologist carefully administering medications through an IV and/or breathing tube to make the brain and body relax so surgery can be completed. Your anesthesiologist will monitor you closely throughout surgery to ensure you are as safe and as comfortable as possible. After surgery, your anesthesia team will reverse the process, and you will regain awareness in the recovery room.
Thanks to advances in patient safety, the risks of anesthesia are very low. Over the past 25 years, anesthesia-related deaths have decreased from two deaths per 10,000 anesthetics administered to one death per 200,000 to 300,000 anesthetics administered. Certain types of illnesses, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and obesity, can increase your anesthesia risks. Even so, anesthesia teams routinely bring even very sick patients through major operations safely.
All operations and all anesthesia have some risks, and they are dependent upon many factors, including the type of surgery and the medical condition of the patient. Fortunately, adverse events are very rare. Your anesthesia team takes precautions to prevent an accident from occurring. The specific risks of anesthesia vary with the particular procedure and the condition of the patient. You should ask your anesthesia team about any risks that may be associated with your anesthesia.
Yes, in certain situations. Some operations can be performed using different anesthetic procedures. After reviewing your individual situation, your anesthesia team will discuss available options with you. If there is more than one type of anesthetic procedure available, your preference should be discussed with your anesthesia team in order for the most appropriate anesthetic plan to be made.
It is important to tell the doctors providing your care what medications you are taking prior to surgery so that they can be involved in making the decision about stopping or continuing these medications.
Anesthesiologists are conducting research to determine exactly how certain herbs and dietary supplements interact with certain anesthetics. They are finding that certain herbal medicines may prolong the effects of anesthesia. Others may increase the risks of bleeding or raise blood pressure. So it is very important to tell your doctor about everything you take before surgery.
There is no single or right amount of anesthesia for all patients. Every anesthetic must be tailored to the individual and to the operation or procedure that the person is having. Individuals have different responses to anesthesia. Some of these differences are genetic, or inborn, and some differences are due to changes in health or illness. The amount of anesthesia needed can differ according to such things as age, weight, gender, medications being taken, or specific illnesses (such as heart or brain conditions).
Among the things the anesthesia team measures or observes and uses to guide the type and amount of anesthetic given are: heart rate and rhythm, blood pressure, breathing rate or pattern, oxygen and carbon dioxide levels, and exhaled anesthetic concentration. Because every patient is unique, the anesthesia team must carefully adjust anesthetic levels for each individual patient.
It is very important that patients have an empty stomach before any surgery or procedure that needs anesthesia. When anesthesia is given, it is common for all the normal reflexes to relax. This condition makes it easy for stomach contents to go backwards into the esophagus (food tube) and mouth or even the windpipe and lungs. Because the stomach contains acid, if any stomach contents do get into the lungs, they can cause serious pneumonia, called aspiration pneumonitis.
Sedation allows patients to be comfortable during certain surgical or medical procedures. Sedation can provide pain relief and relief of anxiety that may accompany some treatments or diagnostic tests. During light or moderate sedation, patients are awake and able to respond appropriately to instructions. However, during deep sedation, patients are likely to sleep through a procedure with little or no memory. Breathing can slow, and supplemental oxygen is often given during deep sedation.