Patients say it feels like being trapped in a corpse: They wake up during surgery, unable to move or scream. Some remember hearing their surgeons talk, and a few recall feeling intense pain.
Some experts have said special brain-wave monitors were the best way to prevent anesthesia awareness. Now, in a big setback for efforts to prevent it, the first large, independent test of the monitors shows they are no better than older technology.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis compared two groups of about 1,000 patients each, all deemed at high risk of waking up during surgery because of health conditions, medication or other factors.
One group used the leading brain-monitoring system, which uses electrodes on the forehead to measure brain waves and software to calculate likelihood of consciousness. The other used an older device that analyzes exhaled anesthetic gas.
Anesthesiologists watched for movement and changes in vital signs and followed protocols to maintain patients' depth of sleep, adjusting anesthesia levels as needed. Patients were interviewed after their surgeries about what they remembered.
Two people in each group had experienced awareness — and the two monitored with the newer system reported having felt pain as well. ...
| • | Monitors Don't Stop Patients From Waking
Associated Press, Wednesday, March 12, 2008 Byline: Linda A. Johnson, Associated Press writer |
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