Doctor’s reminder: If you have lung problems, be sure to tell your doctor the truth, otherwise big problems may arise!

As the number of patients increases day by day, hospitals are trying to speed up the turnover rate of beds. Only when patients are treated quickly can the next patients receive timely treatment. At the same time, scientific and technological research and development is also quite powerful. The continuous strengthening of clinical practice with new medical instruments and new drugs has given our medical staff more "weapons" at hand. In terms of anesthesia, the emergence of ultra-short metabolic drugs can even make patients wake up in seconds.

However, there is no drug that is perfect without flaws. Where there is a good side, there must be a bad side. On the operating table, which is like an assembly line, there are always huge risks lurking. Even the most discerning doctors may not be able to predict such risks in advance. Therefore, when risks occur, they are often in a state of embarrassment, and may even lead to life-threatening situations for patients.

One of the key issues is the degree of cooperation of the patient. Many patients think, "I am here to see a doctor, you should understand everything." However, they do not know that a satisfactory medical process must be the result of close cooperation between doctors and patients.

At this point, many friends still seem confused: Is cooperation so important?

Next, let’s look at a previous case where something almost went wrong, and everyone will understand.

This is a male patient in his 60s with a bladder tumor. According to the diagnosis and treatment process, the urologist will perform a very small cystoscopic operation on him. The main step of the operation is to cut off a pedunculated polyp growing in the bladder. To make an inappropriate analogy: this operation is so simple that it can almost be cut off with a pair of scissors. As you can imagine, this is a very short operation.

However, a quick operation does not mean that anesthesia can also end quickly. Before there were so many new drugs, the half-life of several drugs that had to be used was more than half an hour. This means that the pure general anesthesia stage takes more than half an hour. In addition to the preparation before anesthesia and the recovery during the awakening stage, it almost takes more than an hour.

The emergence of new drugs has completely changed all of this. Take the muscle relaxants that must be used during surgery, for example. The half-life of new drugs is very short. From anesthesia to waking up, it can even be completed in just over ten minutes. Therefore, it is very suitable for this short surgery.

However, this seemingly very good drug has a disadvantage - it can cause increased histamine release in patients. If you find it difficult to understand what histamine release means, you can recall the state of suddenly inhaling something irritating, followed by a runny nose and tears. Among them, histamine release plays an important role.

It can be said that this autoimmune system defense mechanism is a good thing in itself. However, if it occurs at an inappropriate time, it may not be a good thing. For example, during surgery under anesthesia, when the lungs need to work normally to supply oxygen to the body, a large amount of secretions and airway spasms may lead to serious consequences; the strong vasodilation and increased vascular permeability caused by increased histamine release will seriously affect the anesthesiologist's control of blood pressure.

This reaction may be more intense in patients with chronic lung diseases. Some reports even mention that severe cases may lead to the rapid loss of lung function, which is called "silent lung". Once silent lung occurs, if it is not treated promptly and correctly, the patient may suffer serious consequences in a short period of time.

However, the reality is that many patients are not aware that their lung disease may have such a big impact on intraoperative safety. What is even more troubling for doctors is that many chronic lung diseases are difficult for doctors to see their true colors unless they are in the acute stage.

Therefore, we solemnly remind you: If you have lung problems, you must tell your doctor the truth, otherwise big problems may arise!