General Anaesthesia Combines Safety with Stress Reduction
General anaesthesia provides a complete loss of consciousness and pain sensation during surgery, it is therefore the method of anaesthesia that causes the least stress on the body during orthopaedic surgery.
How is General anaesthesia performed?
General anaesthesia gives security for heart patients
The production of stress related hormones can have significant adverse effects on the circulatory system. Especially for patients with underlying heart or circulatory system conditions, it is beneficial to avoid stress during orthopaedic surgery.The patient is given a sleeping medication prior to surgery and gradually falls asleep, waking up only, after the orthopaedic intervention is over.
General anaesthesia has many advantages, however one of the major benefits is that fact that the patient will not produce significant levels of stress hormones during surgery. The production of stress hormones is inevitable for patients who opt for a local anaesthetic and therefore are awake during orthopaedic surgery.
How do we monitor patients during General anaesthesia?
Parameters to be monitored during GA
With these parameters the anaesthesiologist can monitor the wellbeing of the patient at all times:
- ECG:
Electrocardiograph -monitors heart rate and the circulatory system - EMG:
Electromygraph - monitors muscle activity - EEG:
Electroencephalograph - observes the activity of the brain
Extensive monitoring of physiological parameters has made general anaesthesia very predictable. It has become a well tested routine procedure during orthopaedic surgery.
In order to achieve such accurate monitoring, at the Gelenk Klinik we use very up to date combined EMG and EEG monitoring equipment. As a result not only are we able to monitor heart function, but also muscle tension and brain activity.
This device can ensure a sufficient and consistent depth of anaesthesia throughout the surgical procedure.
This ability to monitor the patient accurately during surgery and make any necessary adjustments to the level of anaesthesia quickly and easily, means that we are able to control very specificly the amount of medication used .
Both the orhopaedic surgeon and the anaesthesiologist can be absolutely sure at all times that the state of anesthesia is still adequate, at the same time ensuring that excess levels of medication are not used.
This reduction of anaesthetic medication to the required minimum, contributes to a very good safety profile for general anaesthesia, even for patients with significant underlying condition.
