Biomaterial Database

Awareness during general anaesthesia--implications of explicit intraoperative recall. 2011

D Radovanovic, and Z Radovanovic

Oncology Institute of Vojvodina, Novi Sad, Serbia. dsakic@eunet.rs

Anaesthesia awareness (AA) is postoperative recall of events experienced under general anaesthesia. Most frequently patients remember an auditory perception, the feeling of motor function lost, pain, helplessness, anxiety, panic, impending death. The prevalence of awareness in nonobstetric and noncardiac surgical cases is 0.1%-0.2%. The prevalence is higher in cardiac surgery, obstetric and major trauma cases. According to the results of many studies light anaesthesia is the most common cause of the AA. Posttraumatic stress disorder appears in 33%-56% of patients who experienced awareness during general anaesthesia. Extreme awareness experiences are very uncommon, but traumatic and can have lasting effects on patients. Several brain-function monitors based on the processed electroencephalogram or evoked potentials have been developed to assess anaesthetic depth. Measures to prevent awareness include avoidance of light anesthesia, gaining more knowledge about patient anaesthetic requirements and development of methods to detect consciousness during anesthesia.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D011939	Mental Recall	The process whereby a representation of past experience is elicited.	Recall, Mental
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000768	Anesthesia, General	Procedure in which patients are induced into an unconscious state through use of various medications so that they do not feel pain during surgery.	Anesthesias, General,General Anesthesia,General Anesthesias
D012307	Risk Factors	An aspect of personal behavior or lifestyle, environmental exposure, inborn or inherited characteristic, which, based on epidemiological evidence, is known to be associated with a health-related condition considered important to prevent.	Health Correlates,Risk Factor Scores,Risk Scores,Social Risk Factors,Population at Risk,Populations at Risk,Correlates, Health,Factor, Risk,Factor, Social Risk,Factors, Social Risk,Risk Factor,Risk Factor Score,Risk Factor, Social,Risk Factors, Social,Risk Score,Score, Risk,Score, Risk Factor,Social Risk Factor
D016343	Monitoring, Intraoperative	The constant checking on the state or condition of a patient during the course of a surgical operation (e.g., checking of vital signs).	Intraoperative Monitoring
D058926	Intraoperative Awareness	Occurence of a patient becoming conscious during a procedure performed under GENERAL ANESTHESIA and subsequently having recall of these events. (From Anesthesiology 2006, 104(4): 847-64.)	Anesthesia Awareness,Awareness During Anesthesia,Anesthesia, Awareness During,Awareness, Anesthesia,Awareness, Intraoperative,During Anesthesia, Awareness
D018570	Risk Assessment	The qualitative or quantitative estimation of the likelihood of adverse effects that may result from exposure to specified health hazards or from the absence of beneficial influences. (Last, Dictionary of Epidemiology, 1988)	Assessment, Risk,Benefit-Risk Assessment,Risk Analysis,Risk-Benefit Assessment,Health Risk Assessment,Risks and Benefits,Analysis, Risk,Assessment, Benefit-Risk,Assessment, Health Risk,Assessment, Risk-Benefit,Benefit Risk Assessment,Benefit-Risk Assessments,Benefits and Risks,Health Risk Assessments,Risk Analyses,Risk Assessment, Health,Risk Assessments,Risk Benefit Assessment,Risk-Benefit Assessments