Anesthesia is the act of “numbing” a person’s senses with sedative (sleep-inducing) and analgesic (pain-suppressing) drugs or gases. Commonly performed in the operating theatre, anaesthesia can be general: the patient is sedated completely; or local: anaesthetic drugs are injected directly into the nerves of the area to be treated. The patient remains conscious. The main purpose of anesthesia in the operating room is to ensure the safety of the operation by totally immobilizing the area, and to prevent pain.
In intensive care, general anesthesia is used when organ failure requires total rest: a patient can be sedated to rest the lungs, for example.
