Most surgery requires a general anaesthetic, or a "local" with sedation in some cases. The risks associated with either are very small, less than 1 in 100,00 for a serious complication if you have a qualified, experienced anaesthetist using up to date methods and equipment. Certain patient characteristics will increase the risks , for example if you have had a heart attack, then there is an increased chance of having another one.

Asthma and other chest diseases will increase risk, but not usually significantly, if it is well controlled. Similarly for diabetics, who may have swings in blood sugar levels that need close monitoring, especially if not eating. There are many other rare or common conditions which may affect your anaesthetic, but the anaesthetist is trained to deal with these safely. She or he should tell you if the risk is significant, and you should always ask about any concerns that you might have - this is all part of "informed consent".

Whichever option you choose it is very important that there is nothing in your stomach which could come back up and go down into your lungs, as you lose your normal reflexes such as coughing, while you are anaesthetised. This "aspiration" into the lungs can have very serious consequences, even death, so be absolutley sure:

NOT to have anything to eat for at least 6 hours before surgery

You MAY drink CLEAR FLUIDS ONLY up until 2 hours before.
(= water , clear juice or cordial but NOT milk, soup, pulpy juices etc)




All the anaesthetists I work with are fully trained and registered specialists, with substantial experience in both the public and private health systems. Anaesthesia is still not free from risk but it has become inherently more and more safe over the last 15 years, such that now it is roughly 10 times safer than in 1982. Much of this improvement is due to routine use of sophisticated monitoring devices such as the pulse oximeter - measuring oxygen saturation of the blood, and the capnogram which measures the carbon dioxide concentration in the breath.

The type of monitor below is used for all cases, and here you see from the top down:
		the ECG ( heart electrical activity @ 65 beats / minute ) - green;
		pulse tracing with oxygen saturatuion ( pulse oximeter = 97% ) - yellow;
		the oxygen concentration with each breath ( = 36% ) - pink;
		on a slow tracing concn. of isoflurane ( the main anesthetic agent being used ) in the breath (= 1.3% ) - purple;
		the carbon dioxide concentration on the bottom ( = 36 mm of mercury [Hg] ) - blue;
and blood pressure ( automatically taken every 5 minutes ) on the very bottom (B.P. systolic / diastolic = 112/41 mm [Hg])

If you want to know more, or have questions or concerns then send an email to:

Dr. John Walker
Anaesthetist
email : jw@ga.net.nz
Tel. (021) 646 029 or (09) 5233 580 | 8-6pm | Monday to Friday
(= 8pm - 6am GMT in UK, 1pm-11pm PST in USA!)