What is the usual form of anesthesia for a head injury?

General anesthesia: If a patient has a traumatic brain injury that requires surgery, this patient will recieve general anesthesia and will likely remain on the ventilator post-operatively. The patient will be put to sleep, may recieve a central line and arterial line, will be stabilized and remain anesthetized for surgery. The patient will then go to the ICU for close monitoring and continued care of the head injury.

What surgery?: If it's a head injury requiring craniotomy to evacuate a bleed, then it's general anesthesia with an endotracheal tube. Special care is taken while placing breathing tube to avoid neck injury. If patient unable to protect airway, may be intubated prior to or. If no surgery and can protect airway, then preferable to not sedate or intubate so neuro exam can be followed.

Depends: Depends on the type of surgery needed. If it is only switches, then local anesthesia will be used. For most other head surgeries, general anesthesia is required.

Some minor : Procedures can be done with local anesthesia. Most are done with general anesthesia, with close attention paid to minimize the risk of worsening any neurological injury.

Depends on severity: This depends on the severity of the head injury. If you are talking about severe head injury, patients are often placed under very deep anesthesia very much like an induced coma. This is done to decrease the metabolic demands of the brain. This helps to decrease the swelling and increased pressure associated with a severe brain injury. Many brain and body monitors help guide the physicians.

See below: The question is a little vague, but let me give it a try. If a patient has a head injury the anesthetic that we will choose will be one that has the shortest effect on the brain, so that we can continue to evaluate the patient once awake. We do not want to use long lasting sedatives that would make it difficult to see if the head injury has got worse. I hope that this helps.