Anesthetics, sometimes also spelled "anaesthetics," are drugs used in surgical procedures to reduce or eliminate pain and shock in patients thereby reducing recovery times. According to the text "Basics of Anesthesia," an estimated 28 million...
Calcium gluconate is the drug of choice for treatment of certain types of cardiac crises. It does not decrease heart excitability, but rather strengthens your heart muscle contractions. In a case where your heart is beating rapidly but...
More than 32 million Americans underwent a surgical procedure in 2007, according to a report compiled by the medical information company Medtech Insight. Most surgeries prove successful and patients recover without significant complications....
Muscle relaxants are used to treat muscle spasms, which are painful contractions of the muscles. The term "muscle relaxants" refers to medications that have been approved by the FDA to relieve either spasticity, prolonged contraction of muscles...
Anesthesia is used when an individual has to undergo any kind of surgery. Surgery Encyclopedia defines it as a medication that is administered to a person so that no pain or sensation is felt while the surgery or the medical procedure is being...
The Mayo Clinic reports that serotonin is a chemical produced in the brain that is needed for brain function and the creation of healthy nerve cells. Serotonin syndrome is caused when there is an overproduction of serotonin by the brain. Serotonin...
Fever is a warning sign that something is amiss in the body. It is the body's natural response to over 100 conditions--some harmless, some life-threatening. The Nemours Foundation describes a temperature over 102 degrees F in a child as a high...
Proper anesthesia not only prevents patients from feeling pain during a procedure but also provides an amnesic affect. According to the SurgeryEncyclopedia.com, general anesthesia induces unconsciousness, prevents pain sensation and paralyzes the...
Anesthesia is used when a patient undergoes any type of surgery. According to Surgery Encyclopedia, anesthesia is a medication administered to patients to numb pain or sensation while surgery is being carried out. It is routinely administered...
Bone marrow transplants (BMT) are treatments for blood, immune system or genetic disorders. The most common diseases treated by BMT are cancers, inherited immune disorders and sickle cell disease. A donor provides the cells used in allogeneic...
Gall bladder surgery, also known as cholecystectomy, is a common procedure that can be performed in a variety of ways. Typically it involves a surgical incision or a minimally invasive laparoscopic technique. Regardless of the method, all...
The American Society of Anesthesiology agrees with the conventional definition of general anesthesia as a loss of consciousness induced by drugs, from which a patient cannot be aroused even with painful stimulation. Manipulating human physiology...
Keeping your level of potassium within a normal range is the responsibility of the kidneys. A small potassium deficiency does not usually cause any symptoms. However, if the level drops very low, because potassium is vital for the heart muscle and...
Surgical intervention on leg veins is often a result of a condition known as chronic venous insufficiency, commonly known as varicose veins. Incompetency of the veins results in backup of blood flow with numerous consequences such as discoloration...
Creatine phosphokinase, or CPK, is an enzyme that is present in the heart, brain and skeletal muscles. CPK is more commonly known as creatine kinase, or CK. CK is released from the cells of these tissues when they are injured or do not receive...
Lap Band surgery is a short acronym for the procedure known as Laparoscopic Gastric Banding. It's one of several types of surgical procedures used in the treatment of morbid obesity and falls in the category of "bariatric surgery." The procedure...
Anterior cervical fusion is when a surgeon joins two or more vertebrae into one continuous segment of bone. This fusion is known as an arthrodesis, and it is done for a variety of reasons such as a neck fracture or for conditions such as spinal...
Anesthetic drugs are used during surgical procedures to cause sedation or reduce the ability to feel. MedlinePlus says there are four types of anesthetic drugs. Local anesthesia numbs a small area of the body. Intravenous administration of a mild...
Risperdal, or risperidone, is used for short-term treatment of schizophrenia and to delay relapse into schizophrenia. Other uses of Risperdal include conjunctive use with other psychotropic medications in short-term treatment of acute mania or...
Paxil (generic name: paroxetine) is a medication used to manage anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and premenstrual dysmorphic disorder (PMDD). According to Drugs.com, Paxil is a serotonin reuptake...