What are the potential risks/complications involved with anesthesia?
The risk of anesthetic complications varies with your medical condition, procedure and anesthetic plan. Minor complications are usually transient or easily treatable. These may include a sore throat and/or nausea and vomiting. Rarely, a spinal headache may occur if spinal or epidural anesthesia was administered. Though rare, major complications may include heart attack and stroke. Death is extremely rare and occurs approximately once in every 250,000 anesthetics given. Malignant Hyperthermia (MH) is a life-threatening inherited disease strongly linked to anesthesia. Fortunately, if your anesthesia care team knows that you are a patient at risk for MH, they can provide a MH-safe anesthetic. This can be said for nearly any medical condition that you may have. If the Anesthesia Care Team is made aware of your particular medical condition, the medicines you take as well as other substances, a safe anesthetic care plan can be formulated for you and therefore minimize your risk of perioperat
