Final answer:
Local anesthesia affects blood pressure less than general anesthesia and is not responsible for bacteremia but provides localized loss of sensation. It is important to distinguish the effects of local anesthesia from the potential risks that come with surgical procedures and breaches of the body's natural barriers.
Step-by-step explanation:
For a patient with cardiovascular disease, local anesthesia generally affects blood pressure less than general anesthesia. Local anesthetics cause a reversible loss of sensation for a limited region of the body and usually do not affect consciousness or blood pressure significantly. On the other hand, general anesthetics can have a broader range of systemic effects, including alterations in blood pressure, immobility, analgesia, amnesia, unconsciousness, and reduced autonomic responsiveness to noxious stimuli. In terms of cardiovascular health, neural, endocrine, and autoregulatory mechanisms play a significant role in blood flow and pressure regulation through multiple factors, including the cardiovascular centers in the medulla oblongata and the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. Local anesthesia is not responsible for bacteremia; however, any breach of the body's barriers, as might occur during surgery, has the potential to introduce bacteria into the bloodstream, potentially leading to conditions like bacterial endocarditis.