When it comes to surgery, no one in daily life wants to encounter this on their own.
But it is precisely because the operation is so taboo that many people will always fall into various speculations and puzzles when it comes to surgery.
The operating room is an unfamiliar place for many people, and for those who have had surgery, the place is full of mystery.
Surgery, whether or not to really anesthetize
The so-called anesthesia refers to the temporary loss of sensation through the patient's whole body or part through drugs.
During the procedure, the patient's skin and tissues need to be cut open and the affected area undergoes radical treatment. If the patient is conscious, there will be an extremely strong feeling of pain, and the operation cannot be performed at all.
Through anesthesia administration, the purpose of painless treatment can be achieved, which can not only completely reduce the pain of patients, but also enhance the degree of cooperation between doctors and patients, so that the operation can be carried out.
Of course, surgery is also divided into local anesthesia and general anesthesia.
Local anesthesia is mainly a small anesthesia, such as most puncture procedures, dental or eye surgeries, and some surgical outpatient procedures, and local anesthesia is performed by a clinician, not an anesthesiologist.
Usually local anesthesia will infiltrate the anesthetic drug around the operation site, and this part will become "numb and numb" without much sensation, but the patient himself is awake.
For general anesthesia, it is a large-scale surgery.
Surgeries such as caesarean section, cholecystitis, appendicitis, various fractures, etc. require general anesthesia, and if you rely on anesthetic drugs alone to infiltrate the local area, it will definitely be painful.
And general anesthesia is equivalent to blocking the general gate of the complex pipeline of the human body ---- the brain, so that people lose consciousness.
Why does it often take a long period of fasting before surgery?
Patients who have had surgery, especially large-scale general or local anesthesia surgery, should know that before the operation, the doctor will ask the patient not to eat or drink water.
Many people are difficult to understand this, obviously it is anesthesia surgery, why do you need to fast?
First of all, in the normal state of the human body, there is a special muscle at the junction of the end of the esophagus and the stomach, that is, the cardia sphincter.
This muscle exists to prevent food reflux in the stomach from entering the esophagus.
Even after it has a problem, when the gastric contents reflux enters the throat from the esophagus, due to the two major reflexes of the human body such as swallowing and coughing, it can also protect the body from allowing the gastric reflux to enter the trachea or lungs.
But patients undergoing anesthesia surgery are different.
In the state of general anesthesia, the cardia sphincter is relaxed, at this time the stomach and intestines are already in a state of "passive paralysis", and protective reflexes such as swallowing and coughing are also suppressed and disappear.
If there is a lot of food or water in the stomach, it may regurgitate into the trachea, lungs and other tissues. Once the stomach contents of high acidity are sucked, serious complications such as aspiration pneumonia, airway spasms, and asphyxia can occur.
Even for local anesthesia, fasting and water are required for larger surgeries, such as caesarean sections.
The question is, how long does it take to start fasting before surgical anesthesia?
From a physiological point of view, 1 hour after the water enters the stomach, the emptying is about 95%.
And solid food from entering the stomach to completely empty, it takes at least 4-6 hours.
According to the current international guidelines, adults should fast for at least 8 hours and water for 4 hours before surgery to ensure that there are no accidents during surgery.
It should be reminded here that if the patient has gastric contents emptying dysfunction, or there are difficult airway problems, such as pregnant women, diabetes, and gastroesophageal reflux patients.
Before the operation, it is necessary to communicate with the doctor in detail to determine the specific time of fasting and water.
The reason why patients are clinically required to fast before undergoing anesthesia surgery is to minimize the risk of surgery.
Therefore, if you want to fight and overcome the disease, patients need to actively cooperate with the doctor, communicate with the doctor in detail before the operation, and unify cognition, only in this way can the patient cooperate with the doctor to make the right choice on the basis of understanding.