MGH Orthopaedic Ambulatory Surgery Center Anesthesia Options

ANESTHETIC OPTIONS FOR YOUR SURGERY

The MGH Orthopaedic Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) is an outpatient surgical facility. The goal is to make you anesthetic and surgical experience the most enjoyable it can be and to discharge you home in the most comfortable expeditious manner possible.

During your pre-operative visit with your surgeon and during your pre-operative nursing evaluation, the different anesthetic options for your particular types of surgery may have been discussed. The type of anesthesia you will receive for your surgical procedure will be dependent on the several factors: the particular surgical procedure, the surgeon preference for that procedure, the patient's medical condition, the anesthesiologist's recommendation, and the patient's preference.

Below are listed several of the more common surgical procedures performed at the MGH Orthopaedic ASC and their possible anesthetic options:

For further information about a particular anesthetic technique, click the prompts under "Types of Anesthesia" on the right.

When the anesthesiologist is performing a regional anesthetic block, he or she will administer medicines that relieve anxiety and pain before the performance of the block so that patients are usually unaware that they have experienced an anesthetic procedure. In other words, they don't even remember "the needle." Once patients understand that they won't feel discomfort during the placement of the regional anesthetic block, most of the anxiety is eliminated. Once in the operating room and during the surgical procedure sedation also plays a major role. The level of sedation experienced varies from patient to patient. They may remember every detail of the surgery, or they may not remember anything until they wake up in the recovery room. There are many factors that determine how awake or asleep the patient is during the surgery, including the type of surgery, the patient's position, medical condition, and the comfort level of the surgeon and anesthesiologist. In the end, it is the joint decision between the patient, surgeon, and the attending anesthesiologist as to how to manage the patient's awareness during regional anesthesia in order to provide the safest, most enjoyable anesthetic and surgical experience possible.

TYPES OF ANESTHESIA
Anesthetic Options for your Surgery

• SEDATION

• GENERAL ANESTHESIA

• REGIONAL ANESTHESIA

REGIONAL ANESTHESTIC TECHNIQUES

• BIER BLOCK/IV REGIONAL

PERIPHERAL NERVE BLOCKS:

• ANKLE BLOCK·

• FEMORAL NERVE BLOCK

• INFRACLAVICULAR BLOCK

• INTERSCALENE BLOCK

• POPLITEAL BLOCK

• SUPRACLAVICULAR BLOCK

POST-ANESTHESIA CARE

• POST-ANESTHESIA CARE UNIT (PACU)