Myth: Anesthesia shortens life and often leads to death
There is no scientific evidence that anesthesia shortens life expectancy in humans. Animal studies show that general anesthesia does not affect their average lifespan.
Modern anesthetics are becoming more sophisticated and safe.
Equipment for providing and monitoring anesthesia allows you to precisely regulate the level of the drug in the blood and the depth of drug-induced sleep to ensure an optimal state without excess or lack of anesthesia.
Statistically speaking, by the end of the 19th century, when ether became widely used for anesthesia, the mortality rate was 10 cases per 9,000 anesthesia cases. By the 1980s, this rate in developed countries had dropped to 1 in 10,000 anesthesia cases.
If surgery is necessary for quality of life or life-saving reasons, it should not be delayed due to fear of anesthesia. Not having surgery when it is needed increases the risk of death or complications significantly.
Myth: Anesthesia is not recommended for older people or those with chronic diseases
Many people, especially those who are older or have chronic illnesses, have serious concerns about the possibility of not being able to tolerate anesthesia.
However, it is worth noting that the risk of complications and death still remains quite small, even when these factors are taken into account. For many, the statistics can be comforting: only 1 in 60,000 anesthesia causes serious problems.
Anesthesiologists consider the age and general health of patients when planning the procedure. The doctor carefully assesses the physical condition and the risk of anesthesia-operation using special scales that take into account the severity of the condition, the expected extent of the operation and the type of anesthesia. The choice of drugs is made taking into account all these factors.
The doctor will definitely advise postponing the operation if this will help reduce the risks to the patient’s health and life. For example, he or she may recommend weight loss before a planned cholecystectomy (gallbladder removal) or additional cardiovascular testing if warning signs are detected, such as severe arrhythmias or uncontrolled hypertension.
Myth: You can do no more than three anesthesia in your life
In fact, there is no set limit to the number of operations that can be performed under anesthesia if they are necessary to save or improve the quality of life.
However, the more operations and the more severe the patient’s condition, the higher the risk of complications. Doctors always carefully assess the risks and benefits: unnecessary operations are not performed unless strictly necessary.
There is no fixed interval between operations: it is determined according to the indications and the patient’s individual recovery rate. There are people who have successfully undergone dozens of operations in their lives.
Myth: During anesthesia, you can wake up and see your surgery
There is a chance, albeit extremely low – according to some sources, only 1 in 20,000 anesthesias – that the patient will wake up during surgery. However, you probably won’t feel the pain and most likely won’t be able to remember it in detail.
Waking up during surgery does not occur as abruptly and completely as when waking up with an alarm clock. The anesthesiologist will be the first to notice, for example, a slight motor reaction or muscle tension in the patient.
If the necessary equipment is available in the clinic, the patient’s awakening can be noticed at an early stage thanks to BIS monitoring, which displays the bispectral index of the electroencephalogram and allows one to determine whether the patient is sleeping.
The anesthesiologist monitors the depth of sleep on the screen and adjusts it. If any abnormalities occur, the anesthesiology team will immediately adjust the medication.
Myth: An injection in the back is even more dangerous than anesthesia – your legs may fail
There are operations in which it is possible to use spinal or epidural anesthesia instead of general anesthesia. These are interventions related to the lower extremities, the groin area and operations in the lower abdomen.
During such operations, the patient may experience tingling in the legs and loss of sensation in the lower extremities – this is a normal and completely reversible process. Within a few hours, movement and sensation in the lower extremities are restored.
After the procedure, some disturbances caused by damage to the nerve fibers are possible, but they occur extremely rarely.
An extensive study was carried out in the UK, involving more than 300 hospitals. Mild nerve damage that did not improve over time occurred in 1 in 15,000 anesthesias, and paralysis in 1 in 250,000 anesthesias.
The risk of this type of anesthesia is so low that it is less dangerous than driving a car.
Myth: After anesthesia, memory will deteriorate
It is still unclear how anesthetics affect the nervous system. It’s related to the fact that assessing memory and attention functions is a difficult task, especially in clinical settings when the patient is under stress.
There is evidence indicating possible cognitive impairment in elderly patients after surgery, which manifests itself in the areas of memory and thinking. However, in order to unambiguously associate such an effect solely with the effect of anesthesia, these data are insufficient.
These indicators are also influenced by the fact of the operation and subsequent recovery, especially if the operation was performed for emergency reasons, leaving no time for preparation, and if the patient’s condition was serious.
In 2022, a study compared the incidence of cognitive dysfunction in patients over 65 years of age who underwent hip surgery using regional and general anesthesia. The results showed no significant differences in the incidence of such complications between the two groups.
