General anesthesia is medicine you get before surgeries that require you to be in a deep sleep-like state. It is given in stages – just before the surgery begins and then throughout the surgery to ...

People often worry if they'll panic or if it will hurt. Research and experience show that patients generally tolerate wide-awake surgery well.

Anesthesia prevents patients from feeling pain during surgery, yet it can be one of the most frightening aspects of surgery for some people. Fear of the unknown is understandable, but finding out what ...

An anesthesiologist always visits a patient being prepped for any surgery that involves general anesthesia. During the visit, the doctor describes the anesthesia process and asks the patient questions ...

Paralytic drugs, or neuromuscular blocking agents (NMBAs), are powerful muscle relaxants used to prevent muscle movement during surgical procedures. They're also used during critical care, such as ...

Researchers have found that general anesthesia induces unconsciousness by hijacking the neural circuitry that makes us fall sleep. They traced this neural circuitry back to a cluster of cells at the ...

Every patient who undergoes surgery places tremendous trust in the medical team, including the anesthesiologist or CRNA. Anesthesia allows patients to undergo procedures without pain or awareness. It ...