Anesthesiology 101
Understand how anesthesia works before your procedure. This overview explains general, regional and local anesthesia, how each type is used and what you can expect as your anesthesia team works to keep you safe and comfortable through every stage of surgery.
Anesthesiology: An Overview
Anesthesiology is the practice of medicine dedicated to the relief of pain and total care of patients before, during and after surgery.
There are three main categories of anesthesia used in surgery and medical procedures, each having many forms and uses. They are:
- General
- Regional
- Local
In general anesthesia, you are unconscious and have no awareness or sensations. There are a number of general anesthetic drugs. Some are gases or vapors inhaled through a breathing mask or tube and others are medications introduced through a vein.
In regional anesthesia, your physician anesthesiologist makes an injection near a cluster of nerves to numb the area of your body that requires surgery. You may remain awake or be given a sedative. Either way, you do not feel the surgery taking place. There are several kinds of regional anesthesia; the two most common are spinal anesthesia and epidural anesthesia.
In local anesthesia, the anesthetic drug is usually injected into the tissue to numb just the location of your body requiring minor surgery or a procedure.
Information Adapted from the American Society of Anesthesiologists