Anesthesia

Posted on March 28, 2008
Filed Under Surgery |

What is anesthesia?
General anesthesia is defined by a series of drugs that temporarily reduce feelings, or removed, so that it can carry out surgical operations or other procedures that would otherwise be painful.

There are two types of anesthesia:
* General: the patient is asleep.
* Local: in which the patient is awake, sleeping only part of the body on which to operate.

The dream led to the anesthesia is not the same as the ordinary or natural sleep, but a form of temporary unconsciousness carefully monitored by the anesthesiologist through the administration of the correct amount of anesthesia for each type of operation and patient.

Some operations combine a local anesthetic, such as the spine (or spinal) or epidural drug that numbs the patient. The anesthesiologist will explain this in detail before the intervention.

Who’s the anesthesiologist?
It is a medical specialist, in Spain, after finishing the race four years devoted to training in the specialty of anesthesiology and resuscitation, usually in a large hospital.

What does the anesthesiologist?
The anesthesiologist performing the patient’s clinical history and explores the various options with him before the operation. During the intervention, the patient remains at all times and make sure you are comfortable and safe. This includes eliminating the pain, replacing body fluids and measure and monitor all vital functions of the body such as heart rate, blood pressure and renal and cerebral functions. This process continues after the operation, the anesthesiologist decides when the treatment for pain and postoperative nausea and recommend the most appropriate time to return to drinking or eating.

Why are not permitted to eat and drink before an operation?
If there is food or drink in the stomach the patient may vomit or regurgitate under anesthesia. This vomiting can happen to the lungs and the body is sedated by anesthesia, loses its ability to expel by coughing. This can cause serious lung damage. Generally not allowed to eat in the six hours prior to surgery, although in some cases can drink clear fluids, especially water, until two hours before.

What about the sleeves loose tooth or teeth?
At the start of anesthesia is often necessary to insert a tube into the throat to facilitate breathing. The instrument used for this can easily damage teeth and loose sleeves, so the anesthesiologist asked if there were to be able to take the necessary precautions to avoid it. The same problem exists with dentures, which should be removed to avoid interfering with breathing.

Is anesthesia safe?
The anesthesia is almost completely safe, but every operation carries a very slight risk. A recent poll in the United Kingdom showed that for every million anesthesia practice there are about five deaths. Patients with poor health are at greater risk than those who are healthy.

What is a “premedication”?
While waiting for surgery, patients are given a treatment called “Premedication” to feel somewhat dormant and cease to be nervous. You can not even remember being taken to the operating room or have been anesthetized.

Where and how anesthesia to a patient?
The patient is typically injected anesthetics in hand, and in the operating room. In some patients, usually children are applied anesthetic cream to the skin prior to even feel the injection. Others were given a breathing gas mixture through a mask to sleep that quickly. A parent is allowed to stay with their child until the anesthesia.

How and where the patient wakes up?
After the operation, the anesthesiologist suspended administration of anesthesia and the patient is taken to a resuscitation area where specially trained nurses. The longer a transaction, the longer it will take to awaken the patient. Once it is fully awake, he was transferred to her room. Sometimes patients regain consciousness in the operating room once the operation has finished, without any risk that this entails.

How do patients feel when they wake up?
They often feel cold and slightly confusing. You may feel pain or nausea, but these symptoms can be treated when the anesthesiologist visits to patients to check that everything is in order.

What happens after surgery?
Recovery depends on the type of intervention. After a minor surgery, the patient is encouraged to get up as soon as possible and generally will be allowed to eat and drink a few hours later.

Epidural

What is epidural anesthesia?
Epidural anesthesia, which is also known as anesthesia of the nerve roots, is used to numb the nerve roots that leave the spinal cord. This is done by injecting a local anesthetic or an analgesic (pain medication). Is commonly used during childbirth to ease the pain of it, and has recently introduced its use in surgery to prevent pain that occurs after certain interventions to reduce complications such as chest infections and thrombosis in the legs by lack of mobility.

During labor, epidural anesthesia usually starts when there are contractions and is given once the cervix has begun to dilate. It is completely effective in about 96% of cases, and approximately two thirds of Spanish women benefit from it when they give birth. However, these figures vary considerably from one hospital to another.

How does an epidural?
An epidural blocks the nerves that reach the uterus or other body parts, depending on the level where they are placed. These nerve roots are located in a space surrounding the spinal cord called the epidural space. This is within the spine just outside the outer covering of the spinal cord.

How is an epidural?
The epidural always puts an anesthesiologist. The epidural space was located by means of a thin hollow needle, usually at the bottom of the spine, and after applying a local anesthetic to the skin. Then insert a small space in the plastic tube through the needle and the needle is removed, leaving the tube in position. This tube is usually connected to an infusion pump which automatically adjusts to deliver continuously, until the necessary, a certain amount of local anesthetics and analgesics in the epidural space.

What are the side effects?
The most common are:
* Drop in blood pressure: this happens in most cases and is easily recognized by the administration of serums and medication at the time. For this reason, the patient’s blood pressure is often measured as the epidural is administered.
* Headache: Also known as spinal headache, I happen to 1% of patients who received an epidural. Occurs when the needle passes through the dura (membrane surrounding the spinal cord) and inadvertently going into space is housed where the spinal cord. This is easily treated by the anesthesiologist.
* There are special situations that must be extra careful with epidural anesthesia, such as when there is a defective placenta.

Can all women have an epidural when in labor?
The use of epidural anesthesia has been around for many years and is a fairly safe and reliable. Yet it is a risk-free practice and those patients who were able to raise its use should receive a detailed and complete information so they can decide for themselves whether or not they want to take advantage of this procedure.

Some complications may occur such as meningitis, have been produced by passage of bacteria from the outside toward the vertebral canal, but are uncommon if appropriate measures are taken for sterilization. There is also a risk of paralysis to injure the nerve roots when administered lumbar epidural, because the level at which there is no heart and, therefore, the paralysis is caused by the presence of hematomas or abscesses.

There are some conditions where epidural anesthesia is not advisable or even all may be contraindicated, such as certain back problems. Neither should be used when there is increased tendency to infections or bleeding, or when there are certain diseases of the nervous system. If either of these circumstances must always consult the anesthesiologist.

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