DOI: 10.38175/phnx.1322627 ISSN: 2687-4369

'Awareness' During General Anesthesia

Gülseren YILMAZ, Ziya SALİHOĞLU
  • General Medicine
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The aim of general anesthesia is to induce unconsciousness and amnesia during the surgery, and to provide adequate analgesia and muscle relaxation. Awareness during anesthesia refers to the state of the patient being conscious or able to remember the surgical procedure under general anesthesia. This may be an indication of insufficient anesthesia and may lead to potential psychological complications. Also, about 2% of claims against anesthesiologists have been related to the awareness complications during anesthesia. The incidence of awareness is rare, but the risk factors depend on the patient and technical factors. Factors such as difficulty in intubation, obesity, previous awareness during anesthesia, drug tolerance may increase the risk. In addition, technical errors, misuse of anesthesia machines and anesthetic administration errors may also cause awareness. Some surgical procedures and total intravenous anesthesia technique are also among the risk factors. Being aware of these risk factors is crucial for preventing, recognizing and managing awareness. An optimal strategy for avoiding awareness in anesthesia practice is a combination of individual patient preparation and careful anesthesia management. This complication can be reduced by identifying patients at risk, careful preparation and administration of drugs, and the use of appropriate strategies for anesthesia management. Routine use of devices that measure the amount of medication, neuromuscular block level and depth of sleep will help reduce awareness during surgery. In this article, the risk factors, prevention, recognition and management of awareness during anesthesia will be discussed.

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