Our Animal Anesthesiology Specialists
The Anesthesia Team at CARES
The anesthesia team consists of specially trained individuals whose major responsibility is to anesthetize patients at CARES who are having surgery, advanced imaging or any procedure requiring general anesthesia.
The anesthesia team is lead by, Dr. Andrea M. Caniglia VMD, a veterinarian who has completed an additional one year internship followed by a three year residency training program specializing in anesthesia and analgesia. Dr Caniglia will oversee patients that require anesthesia and analgesia, as well as training our nursing staff to provide the safest anesthetic possible. Dr. Caniglia is taking her specialty boards in May 2012 in order to become a Diplomate of the American College of Anesthesia.
The anesthesia team is dedicated to working with all the other specialty services at CARES to provide the most effective and safe anesthetic for your pet. In addition, we will also assure that all patients are monitored for comfort post-operatively, and provided with the most effective and safe analgesics. We at CARES are creating the premier surgical and imaging center by providing specialty trained individuals for all aspects of your pets care.
What is anesthesia and analgesia?
Anesthesia is an unconscious, painless state that is induced by various drugs called anesthetics. Anesthesia is an absolute necessity in order to permit surgery and other procedures that cannot be done on awake or unsedated animals. The success of many veterinary procedures on animals depends on appropriate anesthesia. The techniques used for anesthesia in our patients are very similar to those used on people. There are two main types of anesthesia:
General Anesthesia:
This type of anesthesia relies on an unconscious state of the patient in order to block the perception of pain. General anesthesia must also provide adequate muscle relaxation, amnesia and analgesia. Most often this is achieved via delivery of an anesthetic gas to the patient.
Locoregional Anesthesia:
This type of anesthesia only creates “numbness” to a specific part of the body. The nerves that give feeling to the area being operated on are “blocked” by a local anesthetic, preventing pain from being felt. Therefore patients do not have to be completely unconscious in order to perform surgery. Due to the temperament of most veterinary patients, only minor procedures can be performed with locoregional anesthesia alone.
Common practice is to combine general and locoregional anesthesia to capitalize on the advantages of both and decrease the disadvantages of using one alone. Ultimately, the anesthesiologist will develop an individualized plan to provide your pet with the most effective and safest anesthetic.
Varying degrees of pain are an unavoidable consequence of surgery. Therefore providing analgesia, pain relief, both during and after surgery is crucial for the success of the surgery and the comfort of patients. Providing analgesia is also part of the anesthetic plan that will be created for your pet by our board eligible anesthesiologist. There are many techniques used to provide analgesia:
Oral and intravenous pain medications are given to most patients. During and immediately after surgery, powerful pain medications, opioids, are given to patients directly in the vein. Once patients are past the acute phase of pain and ready to go home, they can be switched to oral pain medication to be taken at home.
Regional analgesia is the same concept as regional anesthesia however the pain relief is carried over into the post-operative period. Many newer cutting edge techniques have been developed in recent years for humans, and these are also being applied to veterinary patients.
Different drugs can be added to local anesthetics to prolong the period of “numbness” at the surgical site. In addition catheters can be placed near nerves or the spinal canal so that drugs can be delivered continuously to maintain a low level of “numbness” to the surgical site. These techniques are not always applicable for the type of surgery performed, however they do offer significant advantages over traditional intravenous pain medication. Data from studies in human patients show that locoregional analgesia provides superior pain relief, less sedation, nausea and vomiting, and a shorter hospital stay with greater patient satisfaction compared to traditional pain medications. At CARES, we aim to provide the newest, most effective methods of providing analgesia to all of our surgery patients.
What happens before anesthesia and during the anesthetic period?
Our board eligible anesthesiologist will review all of your pet’s medical history and current surgical procedure. The anesthesia team may request additional diagnostics or make recommendations based on this information in order to provide the safest anesthetic possible. Before anesthesia, your pet will receive a thorough physical exam to help detect conditions that may make anesthesia unsafe. Based on this information an anesthetic plan specifically designed for your pets will be developed.
You will also be provided the opportunity to personally speak with our board eligible anesthesiologist to discuss any concerns or questions you may have about anesthesia or analgesia.
During the anesthetic period, patient safety is one of the most important concerns of the anesthesia team. At CARES we are committed to providing the highest standard of care and monitoring in order to provide the safest anesthetic possible. This means that all patients receiving anesthesia for surgery or advanced imaging will have continuous monitoring with the most advanced equipment. Vital signs such as heart rate and rhythm, non-invasive blood pressure, oxygen levels, anesthetic gas levels and respiratory rate and effort will be closely monitored and recorded for each patient. Additional advanced monitoring techniques will also be provided as necessary for the most critical patients.
What happens in the post-operative period?
When surgery is completed the patient is allowed to emerge from anesthesia and recover in a quiet temperature controlled environment. During the recovery period your pet’s vital signs and temperature will be monitored throughout the day by our board eligible anesthesiologist and specialty trained nurses. The recovery period is still part of the critical period associated with anesthesia and complications can still occur, therefore ongoing monitoring is crucial in order to maintain patient safety.
In addition, close monitoring of patient comfort during the post-operative period will also be provided. Patients will be assessed and scored on a pain scale by our trained anesthesia team to assure that analgesia is appropriately maintained. Here at CARES, we strive for all patients to be pain free after surgery.
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