Abstract

Abstract

            The research compares modern anesthesia and natural pain-killers used in Ancient Surgeries. The goal of this paper is to show that, indeed, modern anesthesia is safer and more useful, but that it is not that different from natural pain-killers. This has been done by analyzing first the Nervous System, especially facts related with pain and how this feeling is both generated and stopped. Also, the most used categorization of pain is shown, in order to comprehend the different sensations of pain, along with its causes and cures. Then, some ancient pain-killers are described while talking about ancient medicine and surgeries all over the world. In the last section, there is a complete review of modern anesthesia, from its origins to its latest advances.  A lot is discussed about local and regional anesthesia, and reasons why one is better than the other in certain aspects. By showing what pain is and how both early pain-killers and modern anesthetics work in order to suppress it, a conclusion was reached. Maybe ancient natural pain-killers were very effective in their time and worked amazingly successfully in ancient surgeries, but they have not been replaced by modern anesthetics as many think. In reality, these substances have evolved and have become modern anesthetics. So, this shows that modern anesthesia is indeed better but because it is the evolution of ancient anesthesia, and not its replacement.