Contents:

Relevance of sleep neurobiology for cognitive neuroscience and anesthesiology

The neurobiology of consciousness

Memory formation during general anesthesia

Dreaming during anesthesia

Etiology and risk factors of intraoperative awareness

Monitoring anesthetic depth

Current controversies in intraoperative awareness I

Current controversies in intraoperative awareness II

Awareness during general anesthesia in the pediatric population

Psychological consequences of intraoperative awareness

Medicolegal consequences of intraoperative awareness

Complaints of awareness after sedation and regional anesthesia The role of patient expectations

Philosophical implications of awareness during general anesthesia

Index

Hypnosis, amnesia, and immobility are three major therapeutic endpoints of general anesthesia. In one to two cases out of a thousand, hypnosis and amnesia are not achieved – often leaving a patient immobile but capable of experiencing and remembering intraoperative events. Awareness during general anesthesia is one of the most dreaded complications of surgery and is feared by patients and clinicians alike. Despite many advances in the field, there are also a number of unresolved questions that persist. Some of the difficulties in the detection and prevention of awareness during anesthesia relate to the underlying complexities of the neuroscientific basis of consciousness. Consciousness, Awareness, and Anesthesia is a multidisciplinary approach to both the scientific problem of consciousness and the clinical problem of awareness during general anesthesia. An international cadre of authors with expertise in anesthesiology, neurobiology, and philosophy provides a cutting-edge perspective. No other book on the subject has drawn from such a breadth of scholarship. Common terms and phrases: acetylcholine activity Alkire amnesia amnesic Anaesth Anesth Analg anesthesia awareness anesthesia provider Anesthesiology anesthetic depth assessment associated awake awareness during anesthesia awareness in children B-Aware Baghdoyan basal forebrain behavior benzodiazepines bispectral index cardiac cesarean section cholinergic clinical cognitive concentration correlates cortex cortical decrease defined definition depth of anesthesia difficult dose dreaming drugs effects electroencephalogram experience explicit recall factors fentanyl findings first GABA GABAA GABAergic Ghoneim human identified implicit memory incidence of awareness increased influence inhalational anesthetics interview intraoperative awareness intravenous inverse zombies isoflurane ketamine light anesthesia Lydic Mashour memory function midazolam muscle relaxants neural neurons Neurosci nitrous oxide NREM opioids pain patients perception philosophical zombie pontine reticular formation postoperative prevent problem processed EEG property dualism propofol PTSD receptor reflects regional anesthesia REM sleep remifentanil reported response Samuelsson Sandin Sebel sedation sevoflurane significant specific stimuli surgery surgical thesia trauma unconsciousness volatile wakefulness