Study Finds Remarkable Decline In Anesthetic-related Deaths

A new worldwide data, complied from 87 studies, shows dramatic decline in post-anesthetic deaths as much as 90 percent since before the 1970s.

During the same period, the risk of dying from any cause within 48 hours of surgery has decreased by 88 percent. The study covered outcomes in both developed and developing countries, with the findings published in the current issue of the high-profile journal The Lancet.

General Anesthesia - Risks, Post Operative Recovery & Complications
General anesthesia is treatment with medications that induce a state of deep sleep and unconsciousness in the patient in order to be pain free during surgery.

The study calls for use of evidence-based interventions to reduce the disparities between outcomes in higher and lower income countries. It also makes the point that although significant progress has been made, there is more that can be done.

"Although anesthetic mortality remains low compared with traffic fatalities or suicide, it still remains high compared with death caused by air travel, which is a commonly used yardstick to measure risk," says Dr. Bainbridge.

Source-Eurekalert

Spinal Anesthesia - Indications, Advantages, Disadvantages, Complications & Side Effects
Spinal anesthesia, a form of regional anesthesia involves the injection of certain anesthetic drugs into a fluid-filled space in which the spinal cord and the nerves arising from it are suspended using a fine long needle.

Anaesthesia history - Milestones - Recent Development
An insight into the history of anesthesia, if not for which surgery sans pain would have remained a dream of the yester years.

Anesthesia - History and Origins
Anesthesia has come a long way since the days of Chloroform and Ether. It is much safer today than it was a decades ago. Modern anesthesia techniques and delivery systems are now an integral part medicine.