Monitoring Of Patients under Anesthesia May Prevent Accidental Awareness during Surgery

There are different levels of awareness amongst patients who have been anesthetized before surgery. Some patients have the traumatic experience of being aware of the operation referred to as ‘accidental awareness’ without being able to communicate the pain they feel and subsequently suffer from post traumatic problems. In a recent study patients were monitored with EEG tests and MRI scans after being administered a common anesthetic drug called propofol to determine the changes that occur in the brain to cause anesthesia induced loss of consciousness. A research fellow of the University of Oxford UK, Katie Warnaby believes that a better system could be developed to monitor awareness in a patient and thereby deliver the right amount of anesthesia and prevent accidental awareness and future expensive lawsuits. But according to Dr Russell McAllister of Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine the best option to prevent accidental awareness is an experienced and conscientious anesthetist who is aided in his job by these mechanical monitors.