ISSN: 2044-9038 (Print) 2044-9046 (Electronic)

Clinical Practice

Anesthesia Top Journals

    Anesthesia or anaesthesia (from Greek "without sensation") is a state of controlled, temporary loss of sensation or awareness that is induced for medical purposes. It may include some or all of analgesia (relief from or prevention of pain), paralysis (muscle relaxation), amnesia (loss of memory), and unconsciousness. A patient under the effects of anesthetic drugs is referred to as being anesthetized. Anesthesia enables the painless performance of medical procedures that would otherwise cause severe or intolerable pain to an unanesthetized 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, using either injected or inhaled drugs. ·         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 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 fully 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 and spinal anesthesia can be performed in the region of the central nervous system itself, suppressing all incoming sensation from nerves outside the area of the block.  

High Impact List of Articles

Relevant Topics in Clinical