FAQ
Q: How do I decide which anesthetic is best for my surgery?
A: After reviewing your medical history, the Anesthesiologist will discuss your anesthetic options with you. He or she can explain which anesthetic is best for you and why. Your medical history may not allow certain types of anesthesia. Please discuss your options with your Anesthesiologist.
Q: Is one anesthetic better than the others?
A: Each type of Anesthesia has advantages and disadvantages. Your anesthesiologist will weigh the differences and recommend your best course of action.
Q: What are the risks from anesthesia?
A: Over the last fifty years we have made great strides in making Anesthesia safe for our patients. Only 15 to 20 years ago, several studies placed death from anesthesia at 1 in 10,000 patients. In more recent reviews that estimate has reached 1 in 40,000 to 1 in 100,000 or greater. While anesthesia for most patients today is extremely safe, any procedure has certain risk. This includes anesthesia. These risks are usually very rare. Your anesthesia team does everything possible to minimize these risks for the patient. As an example, every time you drive your car, you have a risk of having an accident or malfunction of your car. To prevent such occurrences, you regularly maintain your car, buckle your seat belt, and drive carefully. Likewise, your anesthesia care team keeps current on the latest anesthesia techniques and monitors. We try to anticipate possible problems before they arise. Some risks associated with anesthesia include reactions to medications, blood pressure problems, breathing or airway problems. These are rare complications. Other complications might include scratched cornea of the eye, sore throat, chipped tooth, sore muscles, or nerve injury. Occasionally after spinal anesthesia the patient may have a special headache called a post-spinal headache. The lesser complications are unusual and usually do not last very long. If you are concerned about complications or feel you may have had a complication from previous anesthetics, please discuss this with your anesthesiologist.
Here are some of the possible complications from all forms of anesthesia:
Death or serious injury from anesthesia--Extremely rare
Injury to nerves from General Anesthesia, Spinal Anesthesia, or Epidural Anesthesia--possible, but very rare.
Reactions to medications--rare. Those that most commonly occur are not life threatening and do little or no damage to the patient. Serious drug reactions are very rare.
Problems with blood pressure, heart rate, breathing--rare. Patients who have medical problems with their heart, lungs, or blood pressure are more prone to anesthetic problems. As such, discussions with the Anesthesiologist about your medical history are extremely important.
General Anesthesia:
In addition to the above complications, patients under general anesthesia can suffer dental injuries when the breathing tube is inserted. This is an unusual injury, but occurs most often in patients with small mouths and those with poor dental care.
Less serious, but more common, some patients may experience any combination of the following: sore throat, muscle aches, confusion, nausea and/or vomiting. Most patients have no problem whatsoever, but if you have had any of the above problems, please tell your anesthesiologist, so he or she can try to prevent a recurrence of the problem.
Spinal or Epidural Anesthesia:
After Spinal or Epidural anesthesia a very small percentage of patients have a specific type of headache called a "Post Dural Puncture Headache". This occurs in less than 1% of patients after Spinal Anesthesia and even less after Epidural Anesthesia. We have a very effective and prompt treatment for this type of headache if it does occur.
Some patients may have itching or nausea from narcotics injected during an Epidural or Spinal Anesthetic. If this is bothersome, we have a treatment for the itching.
Complications from anesthesia are rare. The more common problems are usually minor and treatable. If you or your family members have had problems with anesthesia in the past, please tell the anesthesiologist prior to your surgery. Such prior warning will allow the anesthesiologist to plan the appropriate treatment to prevent recurrent problems if possible.
Q: If I have Spinal or Epidural Anesthesia, I don't want to see or hear anything.
A: When a patient is given Spinal or Epidural Anesthesia, he or she is also given sedation as needed to keep the patient comfortable. The patient cannot see the surgery because of the sterile drapes which surround the field of surgery. Most patients are sedated enough that they do not remember any of their time in the Operating Room. If you are uncomfortable at any time during the procedure, the anesthesia provider can give more sedation.
Q: If I don't feel anything and don't remember anything during Spinal or Epidural Anesthesia, A: how is that different from General Anesthesia?
General Anesthesia places the brain at a much deeper level of sedation. Usually during General Anesthesia the patient's breathing must be controlled by the Anesthesia provider. This usually requires placement of a breathing tube into the patient's trachea or wind pipe after the patient is anesthetized. During Spinal or Epidural Anesthesia, the patient may be sedated, but is usually breathing spontaneously without assistance.
At the end of the procedure, the patient who has had General Anesthesia will probably require pain medication in the recovery room as they awaken. The patient who had Spinal or Epidural Anesthesia will be comfortable until their block wears off. This leads to a more gradual onset of pain after surgery.