What Is General Anesthesia?

Written By: Friedberg, Barry L. M.D.
Date Published: Wed, 2010-05-26

On the surface, this would appear to be a simple, straightforward question, but the evolution of anesthetic agents and newer brain activity monitors have made this question somewhat more challenging. Local anesthesia provides analgesia only in a localized area. General anesthesia, in contradistinction, provides generalized analgesia in addition to generalized hypnosis. A simplified, working equation for general anesthesia may be hypnosis plus analgesia.