Anesthesia
hideAnesthesia, or anaesthesia (see spelling differences; from Greek αν-, an-, "without"; and αἲσθησις, aisthēsis, "sensation"), has traditionally meant the condition of having sensation (including the feeling of pain) blocked or temporarily taken away. This allows patients to undergo surgery and other procedures without the distress and pain they would otherwise experience. The word was coined by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. in 1846. Another definition is a "reversible lack of awareness", whether this is a total lack of awareness (e.g. a general anaesthetic) or a lack of awareness of a part of the body such as a spinal anaesthetic or another nerve block would cause. Anesthesia is a pharmacologically induced reversible state of amnesia, analgesia, loss of consciousness, loss of skeletal muscle reflexes and decreased stress response.
For more information about Anesthesia, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with anesthesia
Common pain relief medication may encourage cancer growth
Nov 18, 2009 |
5 / 5 (3) |
0
Although morphine has been the gold-standard treatment for postoperative and chronic cancer pain for two centuries, a growing body of evidence is showing that opiate-based painkillers can stimulate the growth and spread of ...
Investigational neurostimulation device aims to reduce stroke damage
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Nov 17, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- Stroke researchers at the Methodist Neurological Institute in Houston are the only ones in Texas to offer a novel device that might extend the acute stroke treatment window from three hours to 24.
General anesthetics lead to learning disabilities in animal models
Oct 22, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
Studies by researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine have shown that blocking the NMDA receptor in immature rats leads to profound, rapid brain injury and disruption of auditory function as the animals mature.
Scientists discover new explanation for controversial old patient-care technique
Oct 20, 2009 |
4 / 5 (1) |
0
You might not know what it's called, but if you've had general anesthesia before surgery, especially after an accident, it is likely you have received Sellick's maneuver. That's when fingers are pressed against a patient's ...
Coping Style Affects Quality of Informed Consent Prior to Anesthesia
Oct 20, 2009 |
5 / 5 (2) |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- How patients cope with anxiety before undergoing anesthesia, either by demanding information or running from it, may determine whether they are equipped to make vital health decisions, according ...
Gorilla goes under the knife for cataract repair
Oct 05, 2009 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
The patient was a 42-year-old, 160-pound grandmother with thick bilateral cataracts that had left her nearly blind, markedly diminishing her quality of life.
Study offers less complex, minimally invasive procedure to treat heart valve leak
Sep 29, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
Cardiac experts at Rush University Medical Center are studying a new, minimally invasive procedure to treat leaky heart valves. Instead of open heart surgery, patients will undergo a less complex catheter-based procedure ...
Radiological treatment method spares patients surgery and offers 89 percent cost savings
Sep 21, 2009 |
5 / 5 (3) |
0
Pericardial effusion, the collection of fluid around the heart, typically occurs in patients following heart surgery and is usually treated using an invasive surgical drainage technique. However researchers have discovered ...
Discovery of 'alert status' area in brain opens door to treatment of impaired consciousness disorders
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Sep 14, 2009 |
3.7 / 5 (3) |
0
A new understanding of how anesthesia and anesthesia-like states are controlled in the brain opens the door to possible new future treatments of various states of loss of consciousness, such as reversible coma, according ...
Corticosteroid injections may be helpful to manage vocal fold polyps without surgery
Aug 17, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
Corticosteroid injections appear to offer an alternative to surgery for treating polyps on the vocal cords, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery.
Genetic risk, not anesthesia exposure, impacts cognitive performance
Aug 04, 2009 |
5 / 5 (3) |
0
A recent study of more than 2,000 identical twins found that medical problems early in life, rather than the neurotoxic effects of anesthesia, are likely linked to an individual's risk for developing learning disabilities. ...
Nerve-block anesthesia can improve surgical recovery, even outcomes
Aug 04, 2009 |
5 / 5 (2) |
0
When planning for surgery, patients too often don't consider the kind of anesthesia they will receive. In fact, the choice of anesthesia can improve recovery, even outcomes.
Mayo researchers find anesthesia not harmful for babies during birth process
Jul 27, 2009 |
1 / 5 (2) |
2
Mayo Clinic researchers have found that children exposed to anesthesia during Cesarean section are not at any higher risk for learning disabilities later in life than children not delivered by C-section. These findings are ...
Researchers develop potentially safer general anesthetic
Jul 27, 2009 |
4 / 5 (1) |
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of Harvard Medical School (HMS) researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has developed a new general anesthetic that may be safer for critically ill patients. In the August issue of Anesthesiology, ...
Physicians develop potentially safer general anesthetic
Jul 23, 2009 |
4 / 5 (1) |
0
A team of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) physicians has developed a new general anesthetic that may be safer for critically ill patients. In the August issue of Anesthesiology, they describe preclinical studies of the ...
