Anesthesia keeps patients comfortable during surgical operations. It also reduces postoperative symptoms and ensures the overall success of surgical treatments. Consisting of two major types, general and spinal anesthesia, anesthesiologists select the type based on the ease of postoperative recovery, cost-effectiveness, surgical technique, and patient choice.
Anesthesiologists consider the estimated length of a patient's postoperative recovery and hospital stay. Spinal anesthetic agents such as lidocaine perform well in short-term care situations since they have fewer associated side effects and support early discharge. For instance, using general anesthesia in ambulatory surgery may provide a faster onset of action but lead to more side effects that will cause unplanned admission or prolonged hospital stay.
The cost-effectiveness of anesthetic methods depends on the surgical procedure. For example, spinal anesthesia is more cost-effective in lumbar laminectomy procedures than in lumbar spine surgery. However, it has no cost advantage over general hip or knee arthroplasty anesthesia. Anesthesiologists will discuss the options with patients before picking one over the other.
Finally, most patients can pick the anesthetic that medical professionals will employ. Patients might choose one type over the other according to the ease of recovery, anxiety, fear of the different techniques, efficacy, and cost. The anesthesiologist might also advise the patient based on their specific physiological factors.
