Anesthesia

General anesthesia

General anesthesia is when a patient is rendered unconscious through the injection of drugs and/or by inhaling an anesthetic gas. This also provides muscle relaxation and lack of pain perception making it possible to perform surgery and other therapeutic and diagnostic procedures.

General anesthesia does carry risks including but not limited to: respiratory depression, low heart rate and low blood pressure, adverse or allergic reactions to the anesthetic drugs, equipment malfunction and infection. The possibility of these complications occurring is higher in critically ill patients.

At Penn Vet we make every effort to minimize these risks by tailoring the anesthetic protocol based on the patient’s unique history and medical condition, combining various techniques to reduce the overall impact on the patient, and vigilantly monitoring each patient during anesthesia.

Procedural sedation

Procedural sedation is when an animal is sedated for a diagnostic procedure or minor surgery. This technique is often integrated with locoregional anesthesia. Although sedation does carry similar risks as those for general anesthesia, it typically has less impact on the respiratory and cardiovascular system and allows for faster recovery.

Locoregional anesthesia

Locoregional anesthesia targets the specific area on which surgery is to be performed. Two of the common locoregional techniques are peripheral nerve blocks and epidural / intrathecal injection.

• Peripheral nerve blocks anesthetize or numb only that part of the body which will undergo surgery. Local anesthetic, such as lidocaine or bupivacaine, is injected around the nerves that supply the area thus preventing pain sensation.
  • The possible complications associated with this technique include failure of the block, adverse or allergic reactions to the drugs or drug toxicity, hemorrhage, infection, and rare complications of the nervous system which may lead to temporary or permanent paralysis.
• Epidural / Intrathecal injection of a local anesthetic and/or analgesic drug is another way to provide regional anesthesia and/or pain relief.  A needle is placed between the vertebrae and medication is injected into the epidural or intrathecal space. The epidural injection allows diffusion of the drug to the nerve roots coming from the spinal cord, whereas the intrathecal injection is directly surrounding the spinal cord.
  • The possible complications associated with this technique may include failure of the injection, adverse or allergic reactions to the drugs or drug toxicity, low blood pressure, reactions, hemorrhage, infection, and rare complications of the nervous system which may lead to temporary or permanent paralysis, urinary retention, pruritus (itchiness); slow re-growth of hair over the injection site.