[Anxieties of patients before anesthesia - what information can the family physician provide?]

Patients' fears of anesthesia mostly focus on a possibly inadequate anesthetic effect, on postoperative wound pain and/or nausea and vomiting (PONV). Concerning the possibility of an inadequate anesthetic effect, patients usually express two different kinds of fears: first, that they might stay conscious during surgery («Awareness») without it being noticed, and second that they might not wake up again after the operation or that they might sustain neurological damages or deficits after the anesthesia. Last but not least patients are afraid they might suffer from substantial pain after waking up from the anesthesia. In this article we take a closer look at these aspects and discuss ways and possibilities of handling them, suggesting useful approaches for the general practitioner when talking these issues through with his patients prior to an operation.