Anaesthesiology

Scope of services

Specialist anaesthesia services are provided by a team of full-time doctors from The University of Hong Kong (HKU) resident at our hospital together with the Professorial staff of the HKU Department of Anaesthesiology. This team works together to provide seamless and high-quality perioperative care as follows:

Pre-anaesthesia assessment service

Provides preoperative assessment for patients to determine the most suitable technique for anaesthesia and postoperative pain management. Identification and optimisation of patient co-morbidities (e.g. hypertension, cardiac disease, diabetes) to ensure patients are in the optimal medical condition to cope with the stress of surgery

General anaesthesia, regional anaesthesia, monitored anaesthesia care and nerve blocks

General anaesthesia - patients are unconscious, together with analgesia, amnesia and immobility as the whole body is anaesthetised. Our team of specialists is adept at all types of anaesthesia, including total intravenous anaesthesia (TIVA) which has significant advantages over the use of inhaled anaesthetic drugs
Regional anaesthesia - spinal or epidural anaesthesia is another option for lower abdominal (e.g. Caesarean Section) and lower limb surgery. Epidural anaesthesia can also be given as mode of postoperative pain relief for chest and abdominal surgeries. Patients can also be sedated during their surgery with supplementary intravenous sedatives, if they wish
Monitored anaesthesia care (MAC) - patients are given anaesthetic and analgesic drugs to make them relaxed and pain free during certain types of less invasive surgery and procedures (e.g. radiology investigations (e.g. MRI), endoscopy, colonoscopy, bronchoscopy, shockwave lithotripsy, cardiac investigations/treatment and other minor surgeries). Patient’s vital signs are also carefully monitored and kept normal during the procedure by an anaesthesiologist
Nerve block - using local anaesthesia drugs under ultrasound guided control to block a particular nerve or nerve bundles supplying the surgical site (e.g. the arm). Sedation can also be administered along with this

Acute pain service

Patient controlled analgesia - through a pain medicine delivery system, a predetermined dose of pain medication can be administered when the patient presses a button on a handset. The pump is programmed for safety and to prevent overdose. The advantage is that the patient does not need to call the nurse for pain medication and can keep themselves comfortable
- Patient Controlled Intravenous Analgesia
- Patient Controlled Epidural Analgesia
Epidural analgesia - continuous infusion of a local anaesthetic solution into the epidural space to numb the nerves from the surgical site and, therefore, relieve pain
Drugs administered by oral, intravenous, intramuscular per-rectum or under the tongue

Chronic pain service

Provides expertise and relief for persistent pain conditions that are typically very difficult to manage. This can be done with drugs, nerve blocks or spinal cord stimulation

Epidural service

Pain relief and anaesthesia for women during childbirth
As a supplement to general anaesthesia in specific surgical cases, e.g. chest or abdominal surgery. The epidural catheter is placed in the back relatively painlessly before induction of general anaesthesia. A low dose infusion of local anaesthesia provides excellent postoperative analgesia for several days

Obstetrics delivery service

Obstetrics delivery service

Other services:

Setting up protocols and safety guidelines

Resuscitation, sedation, epidural service and postoperative pain management

Preoperative assessment

The options for perioperative care and the risk of surgery will be explained to patients during their preoperative consultation to ensure their individual needs are met and questions answered