How safe is anesthesia and what are the risks?

The administration of anesthesia, even to patients with serious health problems, can generally be accomplished safely without major complications and only minor side effects. However, even when carefully and competently administered, serious and potentially life-threatening complications can and do very rarely occur. During the last twenty years improved understanding of how the body reacts to anesthesia and surgery, more sophisticated monitoring devices and better anesthetic agents have dramatically improved anesthetic safety. Anesthetic mortality, as high as 1:15,000 prior to 1980, is now less than 1:200,000 for patients in good health undergoing elective procedures. The risk of anesthetic administration is determined by the patient’s health status, the nature of the surgical procedure and if the care is being provided electively or because of a surgical emergency. If you want to know more about the risk of anesthesia in your case, your anesthesiologist can make the best assessment during your pre-anesthetic evaluation. Anesthetic risk can be reduced by providing complete information about your health to your anesthesiologist and by carefully following our fasting (also called “NPO” or “nothing by mouth”) guidelines and instructions regarding any medication you are taking on a regular basis.