Monitors Don't Stop Patients From Waking

Patients say it feels like being trapped in a corpse: They wake up during surgery, unable to move or scream. Some remember hearing their surgeons talk, and a few recall feeling intense pain.

Some experts have said special brain-wave monitors were the best way to prevent anesthesia awareness. Now, in a big setback for efforts to prevent it, the first large, independent test of the monitors shows they are no better than older technology.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis compared two groups of about 1,000 patients each, all deemed at high risk of waking up during surgery because of health conditions, medication or other factors.

One group used the leading brain-monitoring system, which uses electrodes on the forehead to measure brain waves and software to calculate likelihood of consciousness. The other used an older device that analyzes exhaled anesthetic gas.

Anesthesiologists watched for movement and changes in vital signs and followed protocols to maintain patients' depth of sleep, adjusting anesthesia levels as needed. Patients were interviewed after their surgeries about what they remembered.

Two people in each group had experienced awareness — and the two monitored with the newer system reported having felt pain as well. ...

•	Monitors Don't Stop Patients From Waking Associated Press, Wednesday, March 12, 2008 Byline: Linda A. Johnson, Associated Press writer

Story also ran in 138 others:  International Herald Tribune (France), CBC News (Canada), PR-Inside.com (Austria), CBS News (NY), ABC News, FOXNews, WebMD, Newsweek, Forbes, Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Philadelphia Inquirer, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Houston Chronicle, Knoxville News-Sentinel (TN), Contra Costa Times (CA), Auburn Citizen (NY), TheDay (CT), Sun-Sentinel.com (FL), Lawrence Journal World (KS), Orlando Sentinel (FL), Washington Observer Reporter (PA), Laconia Citizen (NH), Foster's Daily Democrat (NH), Arizona Daily Star, Los Angeles Daily News (CA), Ventura County Star (CA), Deseret News (UT), Quad City Times (IA), Bloomington Pantagraph (IL), Munster Times (IN), Grand Forks Herald (ND), Northwest Herald (IL), Winston-Salem Journal (NC), San Jose Mercury News (CA), Carlisle Sentinel (PA), Longview Daily News (WA), Wyoming News, San Diego Union Tribune (CA), Fort Mills Times (SC), Hays Daily News (KS), Santa Rosa Press Democrat (CA), The Times-Picayune-NOLA.com (LA), San Luis Obispo Tribune (CA), RedOrbit (TX), MedPage Today (NJ), PhysOrg.com (VA), Kentucky.com, Gather.com (MA), NewsOK.com (OK), TheNewsTribune.com (WA), dBTechno (MA), AZ Central.com (AZ), StarNewsOnline.com (NC), cbs4denver.com (CO), Examiner.com, MLive.com (MI), abc7.com (CA), ABC7Chicago.com, TurnTo23.com (CA), KOB.com (NM), KSTP.com (MN), WDBJ7.com (VA), LocalNews8.com (ID), KJCT8.com (CO), WLFI.com (IN), KVOA.com (AZ), Reiten Television KXMB Bismarck (ND), Action 3 News (NE), Providence Eyewitness News (RI), Fox 12 Boise (ID), Team 4 News (TX), WLNS (MI), WHBF (IL), WAND (IL), WBAY (WI), WYMT (KY), WOI (IA), KLTV (TX), WANE (IN), KPTM-TV (NE), WBOC TV 16 (MD), WWSB ABC 7 (FL), KXMC (ND), KLAS-TV (NV), WTHI (IN), KVIA (TX), KRIS-TV (TX), KOLD-TV (AZ), KDBC4 (TX), WSBT-TV (IN), NTV (NE), KPLC-TV (LA), WLOS (NC), KMPH Fox 26 (CA), WLBT-TV (MS), KCAU (IA), KRDO (CO), WFIE-TV (IN), WWSB (FL), KGAN (IA), WDIO-TV (MN), Lex 18 (KY), WYMT (KY), KDBC4 (TX), KVOA.com (AZ), WVVA TV (IL), KTTC (MN), MyFox Memphis (TN), MyFOX Providence WNAC (RI), WIBW (KS), FOX 9 News (MN), Fox 8 News WJW (OH), MyFox Washington (DC), My Fox Boston (MA), WTOL (OH), MyFox Raleigh (NC), KTIV (IA), CBS2 Chicago (IL), CBS 3 (PA), WCCO (MN), CBS 5 (CA), WREX-TV (IL), KWTX (TX), WHO-TV (IA), KESQ (CA), WLBT-TV (MS), WNYT (NY), KTNV Las Vegas (NV), KPAX-TV (MT), KSBY (CA), KFVS (MO), KOAM-TV (KS), KTVZ (OR), KTUU (AK) and WKBT (WI)