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Understanding the mysteries of how anesthesia works

Colleen O'Leary, MDAnesthesia is a crucial aspect of surgery, providing a way for patients to remain still during surgery, to be pain-free and not remember the operation, and to awaken safely afterward. This requires a cocktail of medications. "No one drug can provide all the things we need," says Colleen O'Leary, MD, a professor of anesthesiology at Upstate Medical University. She goes over the various types of anesthesia in this interview and explains that doctors don't fully understand how anesthesia medications work.

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