Anesthesia is very important in medicine.
Anesthesia is the absence, either total or partial, of sensitivity . It can be caused by trauma or artificially and inducedly . The term is generally used to refer to the medical action that consists of inhibiting pain in a patient by providing a substance with anesthetic properties.
In Greek, and more specifically in the word anaesthesia , is where we find the etymological origin of the current term. Specifically, it is made up of three different parts: the prefix an, which means “without”; the concept aesthesis which can be translated as “sensation”; and the suffix ia .
Its use in medicine
The branch of medicine that is responsible for treating and caring for people during a surgical operation is known as anesthesiology . This specialty, however, can also deal with relieving pain that comes from non-surgical reasons, such as providing anesthetic substances to the mother during childbirth .
Based on all this, we can establish that the professional in charge of carrying out this task is the one called an anesthesiologist . This, specifically, is the doctor responsible for the patient's well-being both before, during and after the surgical intervention to which he or she is going to undergo. Hence, he ensures the safety and comfort of that person.
Anesthesia is necessary in certain dental procedures.
Types of anesthesia
General anesthesia is known as anesthesia that affects consciousness , produces temporary amnesia and eliminates reflexes. The substance supplied has hypnotic properties and can be applied in different ways (through inhalations, intravenous needles, etc.).
Local anesthesia , on the other hand, only blocks pain in a specific area of the body. Its effects cause the electrical impulses in the muscles and nerves to not be transmitted normally for a temporary period. An example of local anesthesia is that used when a patient's teeth must be extracted.
Another type of anesthesia is locoregional anesthesia , which eliminates sensation in one or more limbs. This is the case of epidural anesthesia (also known as epidural anesthesia ), which consists of introducing a local anesthetic into the so-called epidural space. This substance acts on the nerve endings when they leave the spinal cord.
Intradural anesthesia or spinal anesthesia , for its part, is applied in the intradural space and takes effect more quickly when compared to epidural anesthesia.
The choice of substance to use
When determining the type of anesthesia that will be administered to a specific patient before a surgical operation or test of various types, the medical personnel who will undertake it must take into account a series of very important factors. These include the type of intervention , the part of the body in which it will be performed, the duration of the intervention, the diseases that the person has suffered or suffers from and the history of reactions to anesthesia.
And all this without forgetting that, in the same way, other values of equal importance will be taken into account, such as the medications that the patient is taking at that moment or their conditions with respect to age, weight and height. .