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Anesthesia Awareness During Surgery (3)
Anesthesia awareness, also called intra-operative awareness, has garnered a lot of attention in the news lately. Anesthesia awareness is a situation that can occur during surgery in which the patient regains some level of consciousness, becoming aware what is going on around him or her. According to the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists, between 0.2 and 0.7 percent of all surgical patients undergoing general anesthesia wake up during the surgery. The condition often results in postraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), along with recurring nightmares, irritability, anxiety, and preoccupation with death. The common causes of anesthesia awareness include equipment failure or misuse, inadequate amounts of anesthetics, and patient-related factors such as obesity, substance abuse and dependence, and age. There are technological advances being made in this area, however. The Patient State Analyzer, which analyzes brain waves, can assist anesthesiologists in determining whether a patient has any awareness of his or her surroundings. The problem is that less than 50 percent of hospitals in the United States are using this piece of equipment.
Tags: anesthesia, anesthetics, anesthesia-awareness, consciousness, postraumatic-stress-disorder
Posted By: RavenCares 1 Year, 2 months, 4 days, 23 hours, 5 minutes ago News
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