Anesthesia is one of the most recent contributions to medicine.
Oxygenation is watched closely by pulse oximetry.
Every breath is analyzed by infrared spectrometry for proper ventilation, and the correct dose of anesthesia. These advances make today's anesthesia statistically safer than the trip by car to the hospital. The Anesthesia Department is able to echocardiographically watch a patient's heart during surgery, enabling critically ill cardiac patients to be anesthetized. We are able to collect a patient's red blood cells lost during surgery and give them back, saving a blood transfusion. And we can monitor a patient's nervous system during delicate spinal cord surgery to make sure no damage is done.