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Cosmetic Surgery: PK Anesthesia Safest Achievable

Date Published: 
Tue, 2009-02-24

CORONA DEL MAR, Calif., Feb. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- General anesthesia (GA) remains a popular anesthetic for cosmetic surgery. More enlightened surgeons and anesthesia providers avoid GA for cosmetic surgery. Unfortunately, the attitudes of their national organizations still lag behind these safety-first visionaries.

The public should not confuse 'safer than before' GA with 'safest achievable' anesthesia.

Were 'safest achievable' anesthesia the case, cosmetic surgery deaths involving GA like those of Donde West (2007), mother of rapper Kanye West, Florida teenager Stephanie Kuleba (2008), and the recent near death of Tameka Raymond (2009), wife of rapper Usher, would not generate so much media frenzy.

The general public views cosmetic surgery as 'fake, expensive and dangerous.' As a result of this pervasive attitude, there is ZERO tolerance for any major complication or death involving any cosmetic surgery patient.

While all cosmetic surgery can be performed under local anesthesia alone, most patients prefer the experience they get from GA - not to hear, feel or remember.

Dr. Barry Friedberg developed propofol ketamine (PK) anesthesia to bridge the safety gap between purely local anesthesia and GA.

PK provides the 'safest achievable' anesthesia - no deaths or major complications since its inception in March 1992.

Propofol, a 'sleep' drug and the main drug in PK anesthesia, is also an anti-oxidant and powerful anti-nausea drug.

Using the BIS brain monitor, the patient's individual response guides precise propofol dosing so the patient is first asleep before the ketamine is given. Then, the local anesthesia can be injected without pain. While the patient's body receives adequate local anesthesia, the mind does not hear, feel or remember the experience.

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