What is Anesthesiology?

The branch of medicine that is focused on the relief of pain in the perioperative period (i.e. before, during or after a surgical procedure) is known as anesthesiology. The medicaments administered are termed anesthesia and the doctor who is trained in this speciality is referred to as an anesthesiologist. However, terminology may vary depending on the country or continent. For instance, some locales may refer to anesthesiologists as anesthetists and the medication that they deliver as anesthetics.

History of Anesthesiology

Hroughout human history, mankind has always been concerned with the relief of pain. The earlier back in history one travels, with regards to our use of anesthetics, the sooner one realizes that the techniques used become more crude.

Purposefully knocking-out patients with head-blows or compressing their carotid arteries until they passed out, are just two examples of such techniques. The majority of earlier anesthetic techniques, however, involved the use of a mixture of herbs and, as many could guess, alcohol.

Contemporary Anesthesia

By the mid 20th century anesthesia had more or less evolved into what we deem acceptable today. Contemporary general anesthesia focusses on what may be referred to as the 6 A’s. These are, in random order, anxiolysis, areflexia, autonomic areflexia, analgesia, amnesia and anesthesia. Anxiolysis is concerned with the control of anxiousness, whereas areflexia and autonomic areflexia focus on the loss of reflexes and the control of the sympathetic nervous system reflexes, respectively. Analgesia is for the control of pain, while amnesia is the loss of memory recall and anesthesia is the loss of sensation with or without conscious thought.