It can vary considerably and depends on:
- Type of surgery (large operations, e.g. removal of kidney or bowel, cancer surgery, aneurysm repair)
- Experience and skills of the surgeon
- Individual patient anatomy & build
- Underlying pathology (e.g. tumour size, other structures/blood vessels affected)
- Patients medical conditions (e.g. clotting)
- Medication that affects blood clotting (e.g. Warfarin, Clopidogrel, Rivaroxaban)
- Complications during an operation (tissue trauma, bleeding)
- Some anaesthetic techniques may help to reduce blood loss (e.g. Spinal, Epidural, Hypotensive anaesthesia)
These are additional procedures to monitor a patient with underlying medical conditions better, to be able to administer strong drugs to maintain blood pressure, heart rate and electrolyte balance and to facilitate recovery after an operation. These may include arterial lines, central lines, urinary catheters, nasogastric tubes, chest drains etc.
Injection of local anaesthetic around a peripheral nerve as the sole anaesthetic or in combination with other anaesthetic procedures. The can be performed before the patient is asleep (awake) or when the patient is asleep. Ultrasound may be used.
It refers to the primary (most common) anaesthetic technique for a specific operation. It may depend on the patient’s underlying medical problems, the patient’s choice and the requirements of the surgeon and the skills of the anaesthetist.
Other available anaesthetic techniques for a specific operation.
Immediate – within minutes of decision to operate (not included in this classification)
Urgent / Emergency – within hours of the decision to operate (daytime or out-of-hours emergency list)
Expedited – within days of the decision to operate (daytime emergency list) (not included in this classification)
Elective – at a time that suits surgeon and patient (planned list)
Every operation is listed in at least one surgical speciality