About 3000 years BC the Assyrians knew an effective method (so to speak) to cause anesthesia: compressing the carotid at the neck. Dioscorides, a Greek physician, also called hamlets, in the year 50 CE anesthesia used the term in its modern meaning in describing the effects of the mandrake, which was administered (a part of the root of the plant) to patients who were to undergo surgery.
It was not until many centuries later, in mid-nineteenth and drawing quite a few avatars, when steps were critical to saving surgery, then one of its major areas: pain.
Located now in the XXI century, Dr. Cordero Escobar Idoris Sciences, professor, head of the National Group Teaching and the Office of Anaesthesiology Clinical-Surgical Hospital Hermanos Ameijeiras, Ciudad de La Habana, valued as a “dizzying” Current development of the specialty with the appearance of new drugs, techniques and equipment to respond to major surgery.
Anesthesiology and Reanimation, valued, is a medical specialty that treats patients before, during and after any surgical procedure, and is also responsible for its resuscitation and relief of acute, chronic or cancer. The anesthesiologist is, therefore, the perioperative clinical, in the extreme ages of life, as in pregnancy or the neurosurgical patient.
- Are there, as it were, different anesthetic techniques?
“Yes, the general in which there is loss of consciousness, which includes regional and, in turn, various techniques or under implementation in which the patient is conscious throughout the surgical procedure, but no pain.
- What is your greatest asset? What disadvantage?
“Etymologically, anesthesia means: a, negative particle, and estesia, sensitivity. Therefore, it is the absence of pain perception, and behold its main indication and advantage. Now, more than “handicap” I would say it is a requirement: it must be administered by an anesthesiologist who knows the specialty-specific drugs, anesthesia machines, monitors, concomitant diseases and treatments to prevent or treat complications .
- Who decides, and what are the main reasons for this, the type of anesthesia to be used in an intervention?
The anesthesiologist is the doctor trained to do so and the reasons are obvious. In the preanesthetic consultation determines the patient’s illness and whether these are compensated or not, suggests additional tests or modify treatment, and also determines subsequent behavior.
- Does management always involves risks of anesthesia for the patient?
“Obviously, there are risks inherent to the patient, the surgical procedure and anesthesia itself, which today are minimized by the high qualification of our specialists to ensure a safe anesthesia to our population.
- Now, exemplify a hypertensive patient facing surgery. What care are demanded?
“That these patients maintain their blood pressure controlled from the preoperative and for this the doctor-patient relationship plays an essential role.
- Do the specialists in Anesthesiology with therapeutic arsenal to address, during the operation, at an elevation of blood pressure in patients known as hypertensive or not?
Yes, in all patients, but essentially in hypertensive surgery. Blood pressure was monitored continuously during surgery and, if necessary using various drugs.
- Broadly speaking, what are the main responsibilities of the anesthesiologist as part of the surgical team?
“The primary responsibility of the anesthesiologist is to defend the body from suffering unconscious by anesthesia and surgical aggression and ensure patient safety under anesthesia and postoperative recovery.
- Are there people who are intolerant to anesthesia?
“Yes, of hypersensitivity to some specific medicinal products in our specialty. These patients should be treated before surgery, and describes therefore, as important data in the protocol of anesthesia, drugs to which they are allergic.
credit to: JOSEPH A. DE LA OSA
Source: www.granma.cubaweb.cu/salud/consultas/a/a29.html
image source: www.med.umich.edu/anes/tcpub/glossary/graphics/anesthesia_glossary-78.jpg
Tags: anesthesia, Anesthesia and Surgery, anesthetic techniques, Surgery, anesthesia and reanimation meaning