Memory and awareness in anaesthesia

Abstract

The 9th International Symposium on Memory and Awareness in Anesthesia (MAA9) was held in Tokyo, Japan on June 20-23, 2014, attracting over 70 delegates from around the world. It was chaired by Jiro Kurata, from the Tokyo Medical and Dental University, and was jointly sponsored by the British Journal of Anaesthesia to support research activities in the fields of awareness during anaesthesia, neurobiological mechanisms of general anaesthesia, consciousness, and memory. This topic complements the recently published National Audit Project NAP5 survey of accidental awareness under general anaesthesia conducted in the UK in 2012 and published in the British Journal of Anaesthesia last year. 1-3 The present British Journal of Anaesthesia special issue on Memory and Awareness in Anaesthesia was planned by Hugh Hemmings, a co-organizer of MAA9, to present the most current findings and views on topics from selected presentations during the meeting, in addition to submissions in response to an open call for papers. All the MAA9 abstracts are also included in this special on-line-only issue. Details of the MAA9 programme can be found at the conference website (http://maa9.umin.jp/). The scope of previous MAA symposia has ranged from the neuroscience of anaesthetic action, memory, and consciousness to the clinical aspects of awareness during anaesthesia. The MAA9 followed this tradition, while emphasizing the clinical aspects: epidemiology, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of intraoperative awareness, with a conference slogan of 'Minding the Mind of Subconscious Self'. Although anaesthesiology has devoted tremendous efforts to studies of anaesthetic pharmacology and the mechanisms of anaesthetic-induced unconsciousness, † Chair of the 9th International Symposium on Memory and Awareness in Anesthesia (MAA9); Co-Editor, Special Issue on Memory and Awareness in Anaesthesia. ‡ Co-Editor, Special Issue on Memory and Awareness in Anaesthesia.

Immediate retrograde amnesia induced by midazolam: A prospective, non‐randomised cohort study

“…Previous studies have shown that retrograde amnesia results from consolidation failure, in which the fragile memory is not transformed into stable memory with augmented synaptic strength 13 . The stabilisation of synaptic potentiation has been the main cellular model of memory consolidation, 14‐16 and the synaptic strength during and after the consolidation stage may provide natural recall cues. In this study, midazolam seems to disrupt this consolidation and long‐term potentiation, resulting in clinical relevant retrograde amnesia.…”

“…Event recall: Number of patients in each group who answered correctly to the questions about whether the event occurred during surgery strength. 13 The stabilisation of synaptic potentiation has been the main cellular model of memory consolidation, [14][15][16] and the synaptic strength during and after the consolidation stage may provide natural recall cues. In this study, midazolam seems to disrupt this consolidation and long-term potentiation, resulting in clinical relevant retrograde amnesia.…”

Clinical Effectiveness of Bispectral Index to Reduce the Risk of Awareness for Elective Surgical Patients Under General Anesthesia: An Observational Study

“…IA is a major medicolegal liability to the anesthesiologists and can lead to postoperative psychosomatic dysfunction in the patients, and therefore should be avoided at all costs [5]. Intraoperative monitoring of the anesthesia depth is important for the prevention of this problem [6]. From all the available devices, only the BIS monitoring has been proven effective for this purpose.…”

A global vision for the British Journal of Anaesthesia

“…Successful special issues to date include the annual Postgraduate Assembly (PGA) issue published in collaboration with the New York State Society of Anesthesiologists, [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] and special issues on Anaesthetic Neurotoxicity and Neuroplasticity (2013), 10 Anaesthesia and Cancer (2014), 11 and Memory and Awareness in Anaesthesia (2015). 12 Both the Anaesthetic Neurotoxicity and Neuroplasticity and the Anaesthesia and Cancer special issues resulted from expert focus meetings sponsored by the BJA that led to highly cited consensus statements. 13 14 In addition to the BJA/PGA Special issue published in December 2016, 2 special issues published in 2016 included the special issue on Airway Management 15 edited by Professor Tak Asai and Professor Ellen O'Sullivan.…”