“Will I be put to sleep for carotid surgery?”
I'm 40 years old and I need to have a carotid endarterectomy in 2 weeks. Will I be put to sleep for this surgery?
9 Answers
You can do a nerve block and additional conscious sedation if you want to opt out of general anesthesia.
Yes most likely will use general anesthesia check with your surgeon who can arrange for you to meet with and discuss any anesthetic issues with you.
Marc A Morales MD
Marc A Morales MD
Routinely patients have general anesthesia for the operation you are describing (carotid endarterectomy). I assume that you mean “will I have general anesthesia?” when you ask “will I be put to sleep?” Several things are important to know about you beforehand. Do your other arteries work well? Particularly, are you coronary arteries functioning well? Is your ECG normal? Are you healthy in other aspects of your body’s functioning. The age of 40 is relatively young to require carotid endarterectomy. Most 40-year-old’s are healthy and this is an important part of the evaluation. It is possible to do carotid endarterectomy using local anesthesia to make the area of the operation numb. This is usually done with the patient being sedated. Modern anesthesia and modern anesthetic agents are very safe. General anesthesia is routinely done for carotid endarterectomy. It is likely that you will have general anesthesia for your carotid endarterectomy.
Thank you for asking,
George Carlson, MD
Thank you for asking,
George Carlson, MD