What is "anesthesia"?

Anesthesia means lack of sensation. Anesthesia prevents patients from feeling the surgery. Normally, nerves from every part of the body bring signals to the spinal cord. The spinal cord relays these messages to the brain. The brain then interprets the signals as pain or other sensations. Anesthesia temporarily interrupts this relay system.

What are the types of anesthesia?

There are three main types of anesthesia:

• General anesthesia refers to total body anesthesia. The body is brought to a level of sleep where there is no sensation, memory or movement. Anesthesiologists use medications called "general anesthetics" that are given intravenously or are inhaled. The level of anesthesia is constantly fine-tuned by the anesthesiologist for each patient. General anesthesia is reversed at the end of surgery and the patient is taken to the recovery room.
  
  
• Regional anesthesia refers to numbing only a part of the body. Medications called "local anesthetics" are injected to make nerves numb. Patients may be awake or asleep. If awake, a patient may feel movement and pressure but not any pain. Three common types of regional anesthesia are spinals, epidurals and "peripheral nerve blocks." Spinals and epidurals are injections of local anesthetics that make the spinal cord "sleep" in specific locations corresponding to the place of surgery. Peripheral nerve blocks numb specific nerves coming from the surgery site.
  
  
• Local anesthesia refers to injection of local anesthetic at the actual site of surgery. It is usually only useful for operations on small areas. This is sometimes used with monitored anesthesia care (see below).

What is Monitored Anesthesia Care (MAC)?

Monitored Anesthesia Care (MAC) means there is an anesthesiologist at the patient's side who is completely devoted to monitoring and caring for the patient so the surgeon can focus on the operation. The surgeon often uses local anesthesia (see "Local anesthesia") while the anesthesiologist provides sedation or "light anesthesia." The anesthesiologist both fine-tunes the sedation and manages the patient's medical conditions. Sometimes a trained anesthesiologist is asked solely to help manage medical conditions.

What is an "anesthesiologist"?

An anesthesiologist is a pre-operative (before surgery), intra-operative (during surgery) and post-operative (after surgery) intensive-care doctor. Each anesthesia doctor designs and administers your anesthetic dedicating constant supervision before, during, and after your operation. An anesthesiologist is responsible for patients from the time just before the operation until they leave the recovery room.

He or she examines patients to be sure they are in the best possible health for surgery. During the operation, the patient's level of consciousness, sensation and body functions are precisely controlled by the anesthesiologist. He or she takes care of the patient while the surgeon focuses on the operation. In the recovery room, the anesthesiologist manages patients until they are stable enough to be transferred home or to a regular hospital room. Anesthesiologists employ extensive knowledge and training to provide the highest level of care for every patient, from the smallest newborn needing open heart surgery to the elderly patient needing a mole removed.