Anesthesia is the total or partial loss of sensation, especially of pain, through the use of gas, injection or hypnosis before a medical procedure. Local anesthesia blocks pain while the patient is still conscious, general anesthesia blocks pain through the loss of consciousness. Anesthesia may also refer to the total or partial loss of sensation, especially pain, as a result of disease, or may be used metaphorically. Anesthesia is the preferred North American spelling.
Anaesthesia is the preferred British spelling, the spelling anaesthesia is common in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa as well. Anaesthesia and anesthesia are derived from the Greek word anaisthesia, meaning want of feeling, lack of sensation to pleasure or pain.
Examples
Diplomatic anesthesia likely to wear off in Syria (The Post and Courier)
They provide safe, high-quality anesthesia in 16 states and the District of Columbia and practice a proven model of care in which physician anesthesiologists work as a team with anesthesiology residents, certified anesthesiologist assistants and nurse anesthetists. (The Baltimore Sun)
Montana lawmakers passed a similar law in 2015 requiring fetal anesthesia before surgeries, including abortion, performed after 20 or more weeks of gestation. (The Deseret News)
HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh has voiced the concerns of many, especially PSU bankers, when he said, at a lecture on Wednesday, that while he agreed with RBI on recognition of NPAs being the anaesthetic needed for a deep surgery, “too much of anaesthesia can also result in a patient becoming comatose!”. (The Financial Express)
Scientists have found a new method to deliver anaesthesia using a tiny electric current instead of a needle. (The Times of India)
Looking at her overall condition, we decided to carry out the procedure under local anaesthesia as the anaesthetist deemed her medically unfit for total anaesthesia. (The Pune Mirror)