What are the dangers of general anesthesia during surgery?

There is a saying that "the surgeon treats the disease, and the anesthetist saves the life!" Therefore, general anesthesia during surgery does no harm to the human body, but there are risks and complications!

The risks and complications of anesthesia are not only related to anesthesia, but also closely related to the patient's physical condition and surgical operation!

What is general anesthesia?

General anesthesia refers to the suppression of the central nervous system through inhalation of anesthetic drugs or intravenous injection of anesthetic drugs, causing the patient to enter a state of unconsciousness, muscle relaxation and inertia. A state of reversible functional inhibition of pain sensation.

So general anesthesia can be divided into inhalation general anesthesia, intravenous general anesthesia and intravenous inhalation combined general anesthesia.

Generally, inhalation anesthesia is used more often for minor surgeries in children. Painless gastroscopy and painless abortion surgery mostly use intravenous anesthesia. Intravenous combined anesthesia is mostly used for surgeries that require long operation times, complex surgeries, and surgeries that require intubation.

Complications and risks of general anesthesia

The process of general anesthesia is divided into: induction period, maintenance period and recovery period.

The risks and complications of general anesthesia are often closely related to these three steps.

After understanding general anesthesia, let’s talk about the common risks and complications of general anesthesia:

1. Postoperative nausea and vomiting: Many patients will experience nausea after surgery. Vomiting condition. This situation is mainly related to the following three aspects:

① The effect of anesthetic drugs. Many drugs can cause postoperative vomiting, so as anesthesiologists, we will also use antiemetics during surgery;

② Influence of the type of surgery: After some gastrointestinal surgeries, gastric motility weakens or even disappears, resulting in gastric retention and vomiting.

③Influence of the patient's own condition: delayed gastric emptying due to illness such as not fasting before surgery, traumatic pain and anxiety, and patients with gastrointestinal decompression tubes placed have a higher chance of vomiting after surgery.

2. Reflux and aspiration: For patients with a full stomach and high intestinal obstruction, gastric juice reflux and aspiration into the trachea are likely to occur. After aspiration of gastric juice, the risk of bronchospasm, hypoxia, dyspnea, and pneumonia is particularly high. Therefore, you must eat strictly before surgery.

3. High blood pressure and hypotension: Various factors during surgery can cause blood pressure instability:

① In terms of anesthesia, for example, anesthetic drugs inhibit myocardium causing hypotension, tracheal intubation operation Increase blood pressure, hypoxia, etc.

② Excessive blood loss during surgery without timely replenishment, surgical operations that stretch internal organs, compress large blood vessels, the heart, and surgical operations that cause parasympathetic reflexes cause blood pressure to decrease.

③Impact of the condition: The patient had obvious hypovolemia, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, hyperthyroidism and pheochromocytoma before surgery.

4. Postoperative pulmonary infection: This condition is more common when the patient is in poor physical condition, uses an invasive ventilator, or undergoes lung surgery.

5. Postoperative pain: As medicine becomes more and more developed, most patients will be given analgesic pumps to relieve postoperative pain. During the operation, we will also give appropriate analgesia according to the situation. As a result, postoperative pain is less and less common now.