Abstract
In 1846 Oliver Wendell Holmes coined the term anesthesia from the Greek word “anaesthesia” meaning “without sensation,” after William T.G. Morton, a Boston dentist, performed the first public demonstration of an inhalational anesthetic (ether). The most accepted current definition of general anesthesia is “a drug-induced, reversible condition composed of the behavioral states of unconsciousness, amnesia, analgesia, and immobility along with physiological stability.” A major challenge to defining ideal state of general anesthesia is the fact that the site and mechanism of action of general anesthetics are not entirely known.
Keywords
Amnesia Immobility Consciousness Meyer and Overton correlation Molecular mechanisms of anesthesia Theories of anesthetic actionFurther Reading
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