SU11.1-6 | Anaesthesia and Pain Management — Glossary

Pain that follows tissue injury such as surgery and resolves as healing occurs; managed by the WHO ladder in reverse, multimodal and pre-emptive analgesia.

A drug whose primary use is not analgesia but which relieves certain pains — antidepressants and anticonvulsants are first-line for neuropathic pain.

The set of manoeuvres and devices used to keep a patient's airway open and to ventilate them — the first priority ('A') in resuscitation.

Another term for daycare surgery — same-day admission, operation and discharge for suitable patients and procedures.

The three components of general anaesthesia: hypnosis (unconsciousness), analgesia (pain relief) and muscle relaxation.

A six-point scale (I healthy to VI brain-dead, with an E suffix for emergencies) grading a patient's burden of systemic disease, used to communicate perioperative risk.

Entry of gastric contents, blood or secretions into the airway and lungs, prevented only by a cuffed endotracheal tube among the airway devices.

Rescue ventilation delivered by a self-inflating bag and face mask with oxygen, judged effective by visible chest rise.

An approach to chronic pain addressing physical, psychological and social contributors together through a multidisciplinary team.

Measurement of exhaled carbon-dioxide as a waveform; the gold-standard confirmation that an endotracheal tube is correctly placed in the trachea.

Pain persisting beyond the time of normal tissue healing (conventionally more than about three months), managed as a condition in its own right.

The patient (ASA I–II), procedure (short, low-complication) and social (escort, safe home, access) factors that determine suitability for day-case surgery.

Ambulatory or day-case surgery in which the patient is admitted, operated on and discharged on the same calendar day, with no overnight stay.

A cuffed tube placed in the trachea (endotracheal tube or surgical airway) that both secures ventilation and protects against aspiration.

The explicit conditions a day-case patient must meet before going home — stable vitals, alert and mobile, pain/nausea controlled, tolerating fluids, voided, no undue bleeding, escort, written instructions.

A cuffed tube passed through the vocal cords under laryngoscopy — the definitive airway that secures ventilation and protects the lungs from aspiration.

Local anaesthetic delivered via a catheter into the epidural space, slower in onset and titratable, useful for prolonged surgery and postoperative analgesia.

A practical measure of cardiorespiratory reserve (e.g. how far a patient can walk or climb stairs) used in preoperative risk assessment.

A reversible drug-induced whole-body unconsciousness described by the triad of hypnosis, analgesia and muscle relaxation, requiring active airway control.

A basic airway-opening manoeuvre that tilts the head back and lifts the chin to pull the tongue off the pharyngeal wall; default when no neck injury is suspected.

The patient's voluntary agreement to surgery after the procedure, its material risks, benefits, alternatives and anaesthetic have been explained and understood.

An airway-opening manoeuvre lifting the angles of the mandible forward without moving the neck; the technique of choice when cervical-spine injury is suspected.

A supraglottic device inserted blindly to sit over the glottis, allowing ventilation without intubation; it does not protect against aspiration.

Infiltration or topical application of a local anaesthetic to anaesthetise a small area while the patient remains awake.

Systemic toxicity from local-anaesthetic overdose (CNS and cardiac effects), treated with 20% intralipid emulsion alongside resuscitation.

The bedside method of assessing the airway and breathing — looking for chest movement, listening for breath sounds/obstruction, and feeling for airflow.

A grading (I–IV) of the oropharyngeal view used to predict difficult intubation; a separate scale from ASA physical status.

Combining analgesics of different classes and routes (paracetamol, NSAID, opioid, local/regional block) for additive effect and reduced opioid requirement.

A soft tube passed through the nostril, better tolerated by a semi-conscious patient, but avoided where a base-of-skull fracture is suspected.

Pain arising from damage to or dysfunction of the nervous system, often responding poorly to conventional analgesics and requiring adjuvant drugs.

Step 1 of the WHO ladder — paracetamol and NSAIDs — used alone for mild pain and as the base of multimodal regimens.

Reducing the dose of opioid needed (and so its side-effects) by combining it with other analgesic classes — a key aim of multimodal analgesia.

A rigid adjunct inserted over the tongue, sized from the angle of the mouth to the angle of the jaw, for the deeply unconscious patient with no gag reflex.

Analgesia given before the painful stimulus (e.g. wound infiltration before incision) to reduce early pain and central sensitisation.

The structured evaluation before surgery that detects and optimises risk through history, examination, ASA grading, targeted investigation, consent and fasting.

The minimum fasting before induction — clear fluids 2 h, breast milk 4 h, formula/light meal 6 h, fatty/meat meal 8 h — to reduce gastric volume and aspiration risk.

Entry of gastric contents into the airway and lungs, a risk at induction of anaesthesia that preoperative fasting is designed to minimise.

Blockade of sensation in a region of the body (e.g. spinal, epidural or peripheral nerve block) while the patient may remain awake.

A single injection of local anaesthetic into the subarachnoid space, giving a rapid, dense, predictable block for lower-body surgery.

A harsh sound from narrowing at the laryngeal level (laryngospasm, oedema, foreign body), a sign of upper-airway obstruction.

Step 3 of the WHO ladder — drugs such as morphine — used for severe pain, with non-opioids continued alongside.

A device such as the laryngeal mask airway that sits above the glottis and allows ventilation without laryngoscopy but does not protect against aspiration.

The pause immediately before skin incision in which the team confirms patient, procedure, site, antibiotic prophylaxis and critical concerns aloud.

Step 2 of the WHO ladder — drugs such as codeine and tramadol — added to non-opioids for moderate pain.

A three-step framework for analgesia — step 1 non-opioid, step 2 weak opioid, step 3 strong opioid — climbed up for chronic/cancer pain and applied in reverse for acute pain.

A three-phase team checklist (sign-in before induction, time-out before incision, sign-out before leaving theatre) that reduces surgical death and complications.