« Does BIS or equivalent monitors have a role in the management of anesthetics? | Main | What errors are associated with BIS monitoring? »

January 25, 2008

What is the role of BIS or other brain activity monitor in decreasing the incidence of awareness?

Reviews of cases in which awareness has occurred have identified cases in which, had BIS monitoring been used, the inadequate level of anesthesia might have been recognized (1).  However there appear to be cases in which awareness occurred despite BIS monitoring.  This is true for the b-aware and b-unaware trials as well as case reports (2, 3, 4).

1) Bergman IJ et al: Awareness during general anesthesia: a review of 81 cases from the anaesthesia incident monitoring study. Anaesthesia 2002;57:549-556

2) Myles PS: Bispectral index monitoring to prevent awareness during anaesthesia: the B Aware randomized controlled trial. Lancet 2004;363:1757-63

3) Finkel KJ et al: Sensitivity of BIS and MAC in the B-Unaware Trial.  ASA Annual Meeting, San Francisco A728

4) Mychaskiw G, et al: Explicit intraoperative recall at a bispectral index of 47. Anesth Analg 2001;92:808-9

David S. Smith, M.D., Ph.D.

Posted at 09:46 AM in Clinical Care |

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/2549584/25467554

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference What is the role of BIS or other brain activity monitor in decreasing the incidence of awareness? :

Comments

Post a comment

Comments are moderated, and will not appear on this weblog until the author has approved them.

If you have a TypeKey or TypePad account, please Sign In

Categories

Archives

NOTES

  • Blogmaster
    This blog is organized and maintained by David S. Smith, M.D., Ph.D. Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, University of Pennsylvania. His subspeciality is anesthesia for patients undergoing neurosurgery. For the past 6 years he has had responsibilites for patient safety and clinical care quality improvment in a Department of over 65 faculty who provide anesthesia care for about 24,000 patients each year. Correspondance can be sent to upennanesthesiology@gmail.com
  • Mission Statement
    The purpose of this blog is primarily to provide ongoing contact with former residents and faculty of the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, U.S.A. Others may also have an interest in the topics presented. We plan to discuss a variety of issues related to the practice of anesthesiology with an emphasis on patient safety, risk management and medical legal aspects of care.
  • Disclaimer
    The content and observations on this Weblog come mostly from members of the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care of the University of Pennsylvania. However this material does not represent the official opinion of that Department, the University of Pennsylvania or any of its other Departments or Divisions. Medicine is a rapidly changing field. We cannot guarantee that any of the material here is correct or up to date.
Subscribe to this blog's feed
Blog powered by TypePad
Add me to your TypePad People list