ANESTHESIOLOGY

If you need surgical care at UMass Memorial Medical Center, you will receive exceptional care from qualified anesthesiology physicians and nurse anesthetists who are dedicated to the highest standards in anesthesia, pain management and critical care services.

Anesthesiology Services Offered in Central Massachusetts

We provide anesthesiology services to you and your family for a variety of surgical needs, including:

• Consultation prior to surgery
• Delivery of medications for safe, pain-free surgery
• Monitoring of life functions during surgery
• Postsurgical care, as required

Anesthesiology Options at UMass Memorial Medical Center

For your surgical needs, one of the following types of anesthesia is typically used:

• General anesthesia ensures you are completely asleep and unaware during the procedure
• Moderate sedation provides the appropriate medication to have surgery without discomfort, but not in a deep sleep
• Regional anesthesia numbs only the portion of the body where the surgical procedure takes place and allows you to communicate with your care team during the procedure. The most common forms of regional anesthesia include spinal, epidural and regional block anesthesia:
  • Spinal anesthetic is used for lower abdominal, pelvic, rectal or lower extremity surgery
  • Epidural anesthetic is similar to a spinal anesthetic and is commonly used for surgery of the lower limbs and during labor and childbirth
  • Regional block anesthesia is when medication is injected around a large nerve or nerves, injected far away from the procedure site and causes a larger area of the body to be numb than local anesthesia

Anesthesiology Expertise at UMass Medical Center

You deserve the best care possible, and the anesthesiology specialists at UMass Memorial Medical Center provide you with advanced skills in the following areas:

• Anesthesia for outpatient procedures
• Anesthesia for transplantation procedures
• Cardiothoracic anesthesia
• Management of trauma patients
• Critical care services including all forms of invasive monitoring, and ventilatory and circulatory monitoring
• Pediatric anesthesia
• Pain management

In addition, UMass Memorial Medical Center anesthesiologists are members of the health care team in our surgical intensive care units.