- Local anesthesia: If you have a local anesthetic, you will lie on your back in the standard pelvic examination position: legs apart and your knees drawn up. Your doctor will insert an instrument called a speculum into your vagina to hold the vagina wall apart. The doctor or assistant will then clean the inner and outer vagina, including the cervix, with a cleaning solution. The doctor will then steady the cervix with a clamp and inject a local anesthetic into the cervix on either side. This is called a paracervical block and relieves pain from the dilating of the cervix. It does not numb any of the rest of the body.
- Spinal anesthesia: A needle is placed in the lower back, usually while the patient is sitting up. Anesthetic is injected through this needle into the spinal fluid that surrounds the spinal cord. This causes numbness usually from the level of the belly button on down. It wears off in 1-3 hours.
- General anesthesia: If general anesthesia is given, you will not be aware of anything including the cleaning step, after you lose consciousness. You will lie on the table with an anesthesiologist or nurse anesthetist at your head. You may be given an injection of medication to relax you and to dry up any oral secretions. You will then receive an intravenous fast-acting anesthetic and immediately fall asleep for the procedure.
- The doctor will now place a slightly longer and larger curette through the dilated cervix and up into the uterus. This is a metal loop on the end of a long, thin handle. With steady, gentle strokes, the doctor will scrape or suction the uterine wall. This tissue is sent to the lab for analysis. When the curettage is completed, the instruments are removed.
- If under local anesthesia, you will probably experience a tugging sensation deep in your abdomen as the curetting is performed. If this is too painful, you should tell the doctor, who may then order pain medicine.
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