ANESTHESIA

Anesthesia (from Greek “without sensation”) is a state of controlled, temporary loss of sensation or awareness that is induced for medical purposes. It may include analgesia (relief from or prevention of pain), paralysis (muscle relaxation), amnesia (loss of memory), or unconsciousness. A patient under the effects of anesthetic drugs is referred to as being anesthetized.

At BIG Hospitals – Bangalore Institute of Gastroenterology the Department of Anesthesiology provides State of Art anesthesia work station providing services to all surgical and medical procedures like Laparoscopic / Thoracoscopic esophagectomy, Anti-reflux surgery like lap fundoplication for GERD, HPB (Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary), Laparoscopic surgery for Hiatus Hernia, Bariatric (Weight Loss) Surgery, Urology and Andrology, Hernia Surgery, pediatric surgery, vascular and endovascular, Endourology and gynecology etc.

Pre-anesthesia check-up prior to any surgery is mandatory in order to decide on which modality of anesthesia is suitable for each patient. The department includes skilled and experienced anesthesiologists who are also qualified in pain medicine including labor analgesia.

Anesthesia enables the painless performance of medical procedure that would otherwise cause severe or intolerable pain to an un-anesthetized patient, or would otherwise be technically unfeasible. Three broad categories of anesthesia exist:

General anesthesia suppresses central nervous system activity and results in unconsciousness and total lack of sensation. A patient receiving general anesthesia can lose consciousness with either intravenous agents or inhalation agents, and at the end of surgery, patient is awaken without any knowledge of he/she undergone.

Sedation suppresses the central nervous system to a lesser degree, inhibiting both anxiety and creation of long-term memories without resulting in unconsciousness.

Regional and local anesthesia, which blocks the transmission of nerve impulses from a specific part of the body. Depending on the situation, this may be used either on its own (in which case the patient remains conscious) or in combination with general anesthesia or sedation. Drugs can be targeted at peripheral nerves to anesthetize an isolated part of the body only, such as numbing a tooth for dental work or using a nerve block to inhibit sensation in an entire limb. Alternatively, epidural, spinal anesthesia, or a combined technique can be performed in the region of the central nervous system itself, suppressing all incoming sensation from nerves outside the area of the block. Epidural analgesia/anesthesia is one of the most effective regimens for postoperative pain relief after abdominal surgery. The use of epidural analgesia in high-risk patients has been associated with a significant decrease in surgical stress response, in cardiac and pulmonary morbidity, in the recovery of gastrointestinal function and in thromboembolic events.

Pain management is a subspecialty of anesthesiology used by many medical specialties as an approach for easing the suffering and improving the quality of life for those living with chronic pain. At BIG Hospitals – Bangalore Institute of Gastroenterology, the pain management team includes the pain consultant /anesthesiologist, primary consultant of the patient, psychiatrists, neurologists, physiotherapists, and occupational therapists. Pain sometimes resolves promptly once the underlying trauma or pathology has healed. In some cases, the pain is treated with drugs such as analgesics and (occasionally) anxiolytics. Effective management of long term pain, however, frequently requires the coordinated efforts of the management team.