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Types of Anesthesia: Anesthesia, or Anaesthesia (See
Types of Anesthesia: Anesthesia, or Anaesthesia (See
Anesthesia, or anaesthesia (see spelling differences; from Greek αν-, an-, "without"; and
αἴσθησις, aisthēsis, "sensation"), has traditionally meant the condition of having
sensation (including the feeling of pain) blocked or temporarily taken away. This allows
patients to undergo surgery and other procedures without the distress and pain they would
otherwise experience. The word was coined by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. in 1846.[1]
Another definition is a "reversible lack of awareness," whether this is a total lack of
awareness (e.g. a general anesthetic) or a lack of awareness of a part of the body such as a
spinal anesthetic or another nerve block would cause. Anesthesia is a pharmacologically
induced reversible state of amnesia, analgesia, loss of responsiveness, loss of skeletal
muscle reflexes and decreased stress response.
Types of anesthesia
There are three different types of anesthesia; local anesthesia, regional anesthesia and
general anesthesia. In local anesthesia a specific location of the body is numbed, such as
the hand. Regional anesthesia numbs a larger area of the body by administering
anesthesia to a cluster of nerves. Two frequently used regional anesthesia are spinal
anesthesia and epidural anesthesia. General anesthesia describes unconsciousness and
lack of any awareness or sensation.[2]
[edit] History
[edit] Herbal derivatives
The first anesthesia (a herbal remedy) was administered in prehistory. Opium poppy
capsules were collected in 4200 BC, and opium poppies were farmed in Sumeria and
succeeding empires. The use of opium-like preparations in anesthesia is recorded in the
Ebers Papyrus of 1500 BC. By 1100 BC poppies were scored for opium collection in
Cyprus by methods similar to those used in the present day, and simple apparatus for
smoking of opium were found in a Minoan temple. Opium was not introduced to India
and China until 330 BC and 600–1200 AD respectively, but these nations pioneered the
use of cannabis incense and aconitum. Sushruta Samhita, a 3rd century B.C Indian text,
advocates the use of wine with incense of cannabis for anesthesia[3]. In the second
century, according to the Book of the Later Han and Records of Three Kingdoms, the
physician Hua Tuo performed abdominal surgery using an unknown anesthetic called
mafeisan (麻沸散 "cannabis boil powder") dissolved in liquor. Throughout Europe, Asia,
and the Americas a variety of Solanum species containing potent tropane alkaloids were
used, such as mandrake, henbane, Datura metel, and Datura inoxia. Classic Greek and
Roman medical texts by Hippocrates, Theophrastus, Aulus Cornelius Celsus, Pedanius
Dioscorides, and Pliny the Elder discussed the use of opium and Solanum species. In 13th
century Italy Theodoric Borgognoni used similar mixtures along with opiates to induce
unconsciousness, and treatment with the combined alkaloids proved a mainstay of
anesthesia until the nineteenth century. In the Americas coca was also an important
anesthetic used in trephining operations. Incan shamans chewed coca leaves and
performed operations on the skull while spitting into the wounds they had inflicted to
anesthetize the site.[citation needed] Alcohol was also used, its vasodilatory properties being
unknown. Ancient herbal anesthetics have variously been called soporifics, anodynes,
and narcotics, depending on whether the emphasis is on producing unconsciousness or
relieving pain.
In the famous 10th century Persian work, the Shahnameh, the author, Ferdowsi, describes
a cesarean section performed on Rudabeh when giving birth, in which a special wine
agent was prepared as an anesthetic[4] by a Zoroastrian priest in Persia, and used to
produce unconsciousness for the operation. Although largely mythical in content, the
passage does at least illustrate knowledge of anesthesia in ancient Persia. Arabic and
Iranian anesthesiologists were the first to utilize oral as well as inhalant anesthetics. In
Islamic Spain, Abulcasis and Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar), among other Muslim surgeons,
performed hundreds of surgeries under inhalant anesthesia with the use of narcotic-
soaked sponges. Abulcasis and Avicenna wrote about anesthesia in their influential
medical encyclopedias, the Al-Tasrif and The Canon of Medicine.[5][6]
The use of herbal anesthesia had a crucial drawback compared to modern practice—as
lamented by Fallopius, "When soporifics are weak, they are useless, and when strong,
they kill." To overcome this, production was typically standardized as much as feasible,
with production occurring from specific famous locations (such as opium from the fields
of Thebes in ancient Egypt). Anesthetics were sometimes administered in the spongia
somnifera, a sponge into which a large quantity of drug was allowed to dry, from which a
saturated solution could be trickled into the nose of the patient. At least in more recent
centuries, trade was often highly standardized, with the drying and packing of opium in
standard chests, for example. In the 19th century, varying aconitum alkaloids from a
variety of species were standardized by testing with guinea pigs. Despite these
refinements, the discovery of morphine, a purified alkaloid that soon afterward could be
injected by hypodermic for a consistent dosage, was enthusiastically received and led to
the foundation of the modern pharmaceutical industry.
Another factor affecting ancient anesthesia is that drugs used systemically in modern
times were often administered locally, reducing the risk to the patient. Opium used
directly in a wound acts on peripheral opioid receptors to serve as an analgesic[citation needed],
and a medicine containing willow leaves (salicylate, the predecessor of aspirin) would
then be applied directly to the source of inflammation[citation needed].
In 1804, the Japanese surgeon Seishū Hanaoka performed general anesthesia for the
operation of a breast cancer (mastectomy), by combining Chinese herbal medicine know-
how and Western surgery techniques learned through "Rangaku", or "Dutch studies". His
patient was a 60-year-old woman named Kan Aiya.[7] He used a compound he called
Tsusensan, based on the plants Datura metel, Aconitum and others.
In the West, the development of effective anesthetics in the 19th century was, with
Listerian techniques, one of the keys to successful surgery. Henry Hill Hickman
experimented with carbon dioxide in the 1820s. Nitrous oxide was discovered in 1769 by
Joseph Priestley[8] and its anesthetic qualities were discovered by the British chemist
Humphry Davy in 1799,[8] when he was an assistant to Thomas Beddoes, and reported in
a paper in 1800. But initially the medical uses of this so-called "laughing gas" were
limited. Its main role was in entertainment. In the early 1800s, mainstream surgeons
believed that patient pain was a healthy part of surgery, and there was little demand to
nullify it.[9] Horace Wells of Connecticut, a traveling dentist, had demonstrated the use of
nitrous oxide in 1845 at Massachusetts General Hospital. Wells made a mistake in
choosing a particularly sturdy male volunteer, and the patient suffered considerable pain.
This lost the colorful Wells any support. Later the patient told Wells he screamed in
shock and not in pain. A subsequently drunk Wells died in jail, by cutting his femoral
artery, after allegedly assaulting a prostitute with sulfuric acid.
Anesthesia pioneer Crawford W. Long
The first use of ether as an anesthetic is generally credited to Crawford Long of Georgia.
Reports of the administration of ether by William E Clarke for a dental extraction by
Eliah Pope in Rochester, New York, in January 1842, have been difficult to substantiate.
Long administered ether to his friend, school teacher James M. Venable, on 30 March
1842 in Danielsville, Georgia. The procedure was the removal of a cyst from the neck.
Long had gotten the idea from his observations at ether frolics. At these gatherings Long
noted that participants experienced bumps and bruises, but afterward had no recall of
what had happened. He did not publicize his use of ether anesthesia until 1849.[10]
In 1846 William Thomas Green Morton, a Boston dentist and business partner of Wells,
was searching for an alternative to nitrous oxide to kill the pain of dental extraction. He
experimented with diethyl ether, reportedly giving it to his father's dog. On 30 September
1846 he used ether for the extraction of a tooth from an acquaintance Eben Frost. Harvard
professor Charles Thomas Jackson later claimed this use of ether was his idea given to
Morton. Morton disagreed and a lifelong dispute began.[10]
Morton at first attempted to hide the actual nature of his anesthetic substance, referring to
it as Letheon. He received a US patent for his substance, but news of the successful
anesthetic spread quickly by late 1846. Respected surgeons in Europe including Liston,
Dieffenbach, Pirogoff, and Syme, quickly undertook numerous operations with ether. An
American-born physician, Boott, encouraged London dentist, James Robinson, to
perform a dental procedure on a Miss Lonsdale. This was the first case of an operator-
anesthetist. On the same day, 19 December 1846, in Dumfries Royal Infirmary, Scotland,
a Dr. Scott used ether for a surgical procedure. The first use of anesthesia in the Southern
Hemisphere took place in Launceston, Tasmania, that same year. Drawbacks with ether
such as excessive vomiting and its flammability led to its replacement in England with
chloroform.
Discovered in 1831, the use of chloroform in anesthesia is usually linked to James Young
Simpson, who, in a wide-ranging study of organic compounds, found chloroform's
efficacy on 4 November 1847. Its use spread quickly and gained royal approval in 1853
when John Snow gave it to Queen Victoria during the birth of Prince Leopold.
Unfortunately, chloroform is not as safe an agent as ether, especially when administered
by an untrained practitioner (medical students, nurses, and occasionally members of the
public were often pressed into giving anesthetics at this time). This led to many deaths
from the use of chloroform that (with hindsight) might have been preventable. The first
fatality directly attributed to chloroform anesthesia (Hannah Greener) was recorded on 28
January 1848.
John Snow of London published articles from May 1848 onwards "On Narcotism by the
Inhalation of Vapours" in the London Medical Gazette. Snow also involved himself in
the production of equipment needed for inhalational anesthesia.
The first effective local anesthetic was cocaine. Isolated in 1859, it was first used by Karl
Koller, at the suggestion of Sigmund Freud, in ophthalmic surgery in 1884.[8] Before that
doctors had used a salt and ice mix for the numbing effects of cold, which could only
have limited application. Similar numbing was also induced by a spray of ether or ethyl
chloride. A number of cocaine derivatives and safer replacements were soon produced,
including procaine (1905), Eucaine (1900), Stovaine (1904), and lidocaine (1943).
Opioids were first used by Racoviceanu-Piteşti, who reported his work in 1901.
In the US and Canada, medical doctors who specialize in anesthesiology are called
anesthesiologists, and dentists who specialize in anesthesiology are called dental
anesthesiologists. Such physicians in the UK and Australia are called anaesthetists or
anaesthesiologists.
In the UK, this training lasts a minimum of seven years after the awarding of a medical
degree and two years of basic residency, and takes place under the supervision of the
Royal College of Anaesthetists. In Australia and New Zealand, it lasts five years after the
awarding of a medical degree and two years of basic residency, under the supervision of
the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists. Other countries have similar
systems, including Ireland (the Faculty of Anaesthetists of the Royal College of Surgeons
in Ireland), Canada and South Africa (the College of Anaesthetists of South Africa).
In the UK, Fellowship of the Royal College of Anaesthetists (FRCA), is conferred upon
medical doctors following completion of the written and oral parts of the Royal College's
examination. In the US, completion of the written and oral Board examinations by a
physician anesthesiologist allows one to be called "Board Certified" or a "Diplomate" of
the American Board of Anesthesiology (or of the American Osteopathic Board of
Anaesthesiology, for osteopathic physicians).
Other specialties within medicine are closely affiliated to anesthesiologists. These include
intensive care medicine, pain medicine, emergency medicine and palliative medicine.
Specialists in these disciplines have usually done some training in anesthetics. The role of
the anesthesiologist is changing. It is no longer limited to the operation itself. Many
anesthesiologists perform well as peri-operative physicians, and will involve themselves
in optimizing the patient's health before surgery (colloquially called "work-up"),
performing the anesthetic,including specialized intraoperative monitoring (like[18]
transesophageal echocardiography), following up the patient in the post anesthesia care
unit and post-operative wards, and ensuring optimal analgesia throughout.
It is important to note that the term anaesthetist in the United States usually refers to
registered nurses who have completed specialized education and training in nurse
anesthesia to become certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs). As noted above,
the term anaesthetist in the UK refers to medical doctors who specialize in
anesthesiology. Anesthesia providers are often trained using full scale human simulators.
The field was an early adopter of this technology and has used it to train students and
practitioners at all levels for the past several decades. Notable centers in the United States
can be found at Harvard's Center for Medical Simulation,[19] Stanford,[20] The Mount Sinai
School of Medicine HELPS Center in New York,[21] and Duke University[22]
In the United States, advance practice nurses specializing in the provision of anesthesia
care are known as Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs). According to the
American Association of Nurse Anesthetists, the 39,000 CRNAs in the US administer
approximately 30 million anesthetics each year, roughly two thirds of the US total.[23]
Thirty-four percent of nurse anesthetists practice in communities of less than 50,000.
CRNAs start school with a bachelors degree and at least 1 year of acute care nursing
experience,[24] and gain a masters degree in nurse anesthesia before passing the mandatory
Certification Exam. Masters-level CRNA training programs range in length from 24 to 36
months.
In the UK, a similar group of assistants are currently being evaluated. They are named
Physician's Assistant (Anaesthesia) (PAAs). Their background can be nursing, Operating
Department Practice, or another profession allied to medicine or a science graduate.
Training is in the form of a post-graduate diploma and takes 27 months to complete.
Once finished, a masters degree can be undertaken.[citation needed]
In the United Kingdom, Operating Department Practitioners provide close assistance and
support to the anaesthetist (anaesthesiologist).[citation needed] They can also assist with
surgical procedures alongside the surgeon and provide Post-Operative Care to patients
emerging from anesthesia. ODPs can be found in the Operating Department, Accident
and Emergency (providing advanced airway assistance), Intensive Care Unit, High
Dependency Unit and for specialist MRI scanners which require anesthetic cover. They
also work with organ retrieval teams in transplant surgery and attend pre hospital care to
injury victims in the community and will undertake advanced specialist training to carry
out this work. They are state registered in the UK and their title, Operating Department
Practitioner is a protected title. The ODP is not a technician but a practitioner of peri-
opertive care. ODPs also work in the field of teaching as lecturers, resuscitation trainers
and work in senior positions in management of operating theatre departments.
Veterinary anesthetists utilize much the same equipment and drugs as those who provide
anesthesia to human patients. In the case of animals, the anesthesia must be tailored to fit
the species ranging from large land animals like horses or elephants to birds to aquatic
animals like fish. For each species there are ideal, or at least less problematic, methods of
safely inducing anesthesia. For wild animals, anesthetic drugs must often be delivered
from a distance by means of remote projector systems ("dart guns") before the animal can
even be approached. Large domestic animals, like cattle, can often be anesthetized for
standing surgery using only local anesthetics and sedative drugs. While most clinical
veterinarians and veterinary technicians routinely function as anesthetists in the course of
their professional duties, veterinary anesthesiologists in the U.S. are veterinarians who
have completed a two-year residency in anesthesia and have qualified for certification by
the American College of Veterinary Anesthesiologists.