Anesthesia Becomes Safer, Study Reports

Anesthesia has apparently become much safer for most patients, sharply reducing their chances of death or brain damage during routine surgery, a study reported last week. The study involved more than 1 million patients who received anesthesia during surgery at nine hospitals affiliated with Harvard University. It found that the number of accidents dropped sharply after new safety guidelines were instituted in 1985.

All nine teaching hospitals affiliated with Harvard instituted new guidelines in August, 1985, aimed at reducing the chances an anesthesia-related accident would occur. The guidelines, which served as a model for national guidelines adopted in 1986, call for the constant presence of an anesthesiologist in the operating room and continuous monitoring of blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen availability, circulation, breathing and breathing aids.

In a paper being published in the journal Anesthesiology, the researchers found 11 major accidents from 1976 through 1988 at the nine hospitals. The study found that the accidents caused five deaths, four cases of brain damage and two nonfatal heart attacks. But 10 of the 11 accidents occurred before the guidelines were implemented. The one accident that followed the guidelines occurred one month after implementation.