What are the risks of anesthesia?
With all of the advances in medicine and anesthesia, you should be comforted to know that serious problems arising from your anesthesia are uncommon. Risk cannot be completely avoided, but the combination of your anesthesia professional's training, modern equipment used to deliver anesthesia and monitor your condition, and modern medications have made anesthesia a much safer procedure in recent years.
Although anesthesia is considered very safe, it is not risk free. It is important for you to have an opportunity to discuss risks with your anesthesia professional. For any given risk from anesthesia, you may want to know how frequent the complication is, that is, how likely it is to happen. You may want to know how serious a complication is, as well as how it can be treated. Your anesthesia professional is the best person to know how your individual situation may change the risk. For example your previous medical conditions, your body size, your surgical procedure, and your habits like smoking will influence the risks of certain complications.
Uncommon complications include chest infections and difficulty breathing, damage to teeth, lips or tongue, and awareness under general anesthesia [See below]. The rare and very rare complications of anesthesia include damage to the eyes, serious allergic reactions to medications, nerve damage, equipment failure and death.
Deaths caused solely by anesthesia are very rare, and are usually the result of several serious complications together. If you are healthy and having a minor, elective operation, the risk of death from anesthesia is very, very small.
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