the artificial removal of sensitivity to pain, used during surgical operations and during other diagnostic and treatment procedures. The study of anesthetic techniques is the principal concern of anesthesiology.
Analgesics in the form of medicinal herbs have been known from earliest antiquity, as have been the simplest methods of achieving anesthesia. In the 19th century morphine was widely used for anesthesia. Local anesthesia is distinguished from general anesthesia. In local anesthesia, the receptor nerve endings and the nerve pathways that carry impulses from the peripheral to the central nervous systems are blocked. In general anesthesia, activity is depressed in the cerebral nerve centers that perceive pain.
Several methods for achieving local anesthesia are used. A 0.25-percent solution of novocaine can be injected by the creeping infiltration method, which was developed by A. V. Vishnevskii. In conduction anesthesia, the anesthetic is injected directly into the nerve trunk. In cerebrospinal anesthesia, the anesthetic is injected into the cerebrospinal canal, and in epidural anesthesia, into the epidural space. Ethyl chloride or cocaine are applied in topical anesthesia to the surface of the organ or tissue.
Other methods for achieving local anesthesia are also used. For methods of general anesthesia, see, GENERAL.
T. M. DARBINIAN