The Brain Under Anesthesia

April 3, 2008 | Source: Technology Review

A large-scale study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found that a commonly used device designed to prevent anesthesia awareness–the rare event when a patient is actually conscious during surgery–was largely ineffective.

Massachusetts General Hospital researchers are using brain imaging of human volunteers and, in animals, electrophysiology approaches–which more directly measure brain activity–to gain a deeper understanding of anesthesia. Their preliminary research suggests that measuring activity at the surface of the brain may not be a reliable indicator of what’s going on deeper down.