Does anesthesia have any effect on the body?

In the course of some normal treatments, anesthesia may be needed, such as tooth extraction, wound suture, heart surgery, caesarean section, etc. Anesthesia does have a certain impact on the body, but as the anesthesia technology becomes more and more advanced, this impact will become smaller and smaller. In particular, many people are worried that anesthesia will cause damage to people's intelligence. In fact, this relationship with anesthesia is now becoming smaller and smaller, and generally will not cause such a phenomenon.

1. Will general anesthesia make people stupid?

An anesthesiologist from a cancer hospital said, "Nowadays, with the advancement of general anesthesia technology and drugs, the safety of general anesthesia has been greatly improved, and the serious complications caused by general anesthesia are far lower than those in aviation accidents. The drugs used for general anesthesia are becoming more and more controllable, and the impact on vital organs is getting smaller and smaller. Therefore, for ordinary patients, it will not significantly affect the brain, nor will it make people stupid." Before surgery, the anesthesiologist will evaluate the patient's basic condition, vital organ function, medication history, surgical history, etc., in order to provide anesthesia methods and depths suitable for the operation as accurately as possible, so as to achieve rapid and early awakening after surgery. Take inhaled anesthetics as an example: more than 95% of the drugs are excreted in their original form, with very little metabolism in the body and little impact. Some patients said that after surgery under general anesthesia, they felt their memory was poor, their spirits were not good, and they felt as if they had been "stupid for three years due to an illness." In fact, this has nothing to do with general anesthesia. It is mainly due to the stress response caused by the surgical operation, as well as the combined effects of neuroendocrine function, sleep disorders, etc.

2. Does general anesthesia affect children’s intelligence?

An expert from the Department of Anesthesiology at a cancer hospital said that due to physiological development, children's conditions change more quickly and higher requirements are placed on anesthesiologists. If children under the age of 3 undergo prolonged surgical anesthesia, or use general anesthetics repeatedly in a short period of time, it may have some effects on certain functions of their school age, such as reasoning and emotional control. However, there is no definitive conclusion yet. Large-scale clinical sample analyses of the effects of anesthesia on children's neurodevelopment are also underway in Europe, the United States and other countries. However, parents do not need to worry too much about surgeries that can only be successfully completed under anesthesia. Because compared with the physical and mental damage to children caused by surgical trauma, pain, etc., the impact of anesthetics is weak. In addition, professional anesthesiologists will use precise and individualized drug dosages based on the child's development and surgical conditions, ensure the stability of important organ functions, and deal with complications in a targeted manner, greatly improving safety.

3. Is local anesthesia less risky than general anesthesia?

An expert from the Department of Anesthesiology at a cancer hospital said: "The decision on general anesthesia, spinal anesthesia, nerve block anesthesia or local anesthesia requires comprehensive consideration based on the surgical site and the patient's basic condition. The best anesthesia choice is the one that matches the surgical method and ensures the patient's safety to the greatest extent." With the advancement of anesthesia technology, general anesthesia, spinal anesthesia, etc. have become safe and effective methods of anesthesia. For example, for the same knee or foot surgery, an adult can choose spinal anesthesia, while a young child may need general anesthesia combined with nerve block to complete the surgery. This not only ensures the safety and effectiveness of the surgery, but also minimizes the mental damage caused by the surgery to the child.

4. How long will it take to wake up after general anesthesia?

The patient can fully wake up after the operation. Of course, he can also wake up some time after the operation. It all depends on the patient's basic condition and the operation process. General anesthesia uses fast-acting and rapidly metabolized drugs. Drugs used to maintain anesthesia can be metabolized completely within a few minutes to more than ten minutes, such as propofol and remifentanil, which only take a few minutes. However, general anesthesia requires the use of a combination of several anesthetic drugs or anesthetic methods. The patient's liver and kidney function, the pharmacokinetics of anesthetic drugs, and the situation during surgery are all important factors that affect drug metabolism and awakening. A mature anesthesiologist can accurately grasp these factors and enable the patient to wake up quickly after surgery. Of course, for some special patients, such as those undergoing complex cardiovascular surgery, liver transplantation, tracheal surgery, etc., the anesthesia method is different from general anesthesia. It is necessary to fully consider the accumulation, metabolism and organ function of drugs. They often need to be kept on the ventilator for a period of time and then wake up after the organs have recovered their functions.