Is anaesthesia really safe?

It is, however, not entirely without some risk and one should not have an operation under anaesthetic unless it is really necessary.

The main reasons for the ever-improving safety record are the expertise of your anaesthetist, the continually improving “cleaner” anaesthetics drugs, and the huge technological strides made in electronic devices used to measure your body’s response – the monitors.

The risks associated with anaesthesia are that in addition to affecting the nervous system, anaesthetic drugs also affect other organ systems such as the heart.