Understanding Anesthesiology - The Global Regional Anesthesia ...

General Anesthesia
General anesthesia is a pharmacologically-induced, reversible
state of unconsciousness. It may involve the
use of intravenous agents, inhaled agents or both. The
goals and techniques of general anesthesia are discussed
in an upcoming chapter. General anesthesia
may be used alone or in combination with local anesthesia
or a regional technique. An example of such a “combined
technique” would be the use of epidural and general
anesthesia in a patient undergoing an abdominal
aortic aneurysm repair. Such a technique allows the continued
use of the epidural for post-operative pain management
and may confer a lower morbidity and mortality
in high risk patients.
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