My Spine - Cervical
You will be moved over to your bed with a roller-board and taken to the
recovery room where you will be kept until fully awake. You will be trans-
ferred to the high care unit or the ward. If you spend the night in the high care
unit, you will be transferred to the ward as soon as your specialist is confident
that it is safe.
Equipment used in theatre
The anaesthetic machine
This machine has a supply of different gases including oxygen, ordinary air
and nitrous oxide and mixes anaesthetic gases into the flow of oxygen and air
mixture that is pumped into and out of your lungs by the ventilator. The
machine also removes the carbon dioxide that you exhale. The canister at the
bottom of the tray with the granules inside is responsible for removing the
carbon dioxide. There are valves that regulate the flow as well as flow meters
to indicate the flow rate. Soft tubes connect you to the machine to deliver
clean air and gas mixture and to remove the air that is exhaled.
The machine has an extensive monitoring function to perform and measures
the amount of the different gases that enter and exit your body, the concentra-
tion of oxygen in your blood, your heart rate and rhythm and your blood pres-
sure. It has several alarms and fail-safe mechanisms to keep you safe and to
alert the anaesthetist of possible complications.
The C-arm or mobile fluoroscopic X-ray machine
This mobile X-ray machine is used extensively to confirm the anatomy and
position of the bony structures of the spine as well as confirming that the level
of surgery performed is the intended level. It is also used to confirm that
spinal instrumentation is properly inserted and fixed.
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