Background: Age and comorbidities are reported to induce neurobiological transformations in the brain. Whilst the influence of ageing on anaesthesia-induced electroencephalogram (EEG) changes has been investigated, the effect of comorbidities has not yet been explored. We hypothesised that certain diseases significantly affect frontal EEG alpha and broadband power in cardiac surgical patients. Methods: We analysed the frontal EEGs of 589 patients undergoing isoflurane general anaesthesia from a prospective observational study. We used multi-and uni-variable regression to analyse the relationships between comorbidities and age as independent with peak and oscillatory alpha, and broadband power as dependent variables. A score of comorbidities and minimum alveolar concentration (MAC) was built to interrogate the combined effect of age and score on alpha and broadband power. Results: At the univariable level, many comorbidities were associated with lower EEG alpha or broadband power. Multivariable regression indicated the independent association of numerous comorbidities and MAC with peak alpha (R 2 ¼0.19) and broadband power (R 2 ¼0.31). The association with peak alpha power is markedly reduced when the underlying broadband effect is subtracted (R 2 ¼0.09). Broadband measures themselves are more strongly correlated with comorbidities and MAC (R 2 ¼0.31) than age (R 2 ¼0.15). Conclusions: Comorbidities and age are independently associated with decreasing frontal EEG alpha and broadband power during general anaesthesia. For alpha power, the association is highly dependent on the underlying broadband effect. These findings might have significant clinical consequences for automated computation for depth of anaesthesia in comorbid patients, because misclassification might pose the risk of under-or over-dosing of anaesthetics. Clinical trial registration: NCT02976584.
Background: Guidelines recommend endotracheal intubation in trauma patients with a Glasgow coma scale (GCS) < 9 because of the loss of airway reflexes and consequential risk of airway obstruction. However, in patients with acute alcohol intoxication guidelines are not clear. Thus, we aimed to determine the proportional incidence of intubation in alcohol intoxication and compare the clinical characteristics of intubated and non-intubated patients, as well as reasons for intubation in all patients and in the subgroup of patients with reduced GCS (< 9) but without traumatic brain injury. Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of all consultations to an urban ED in Switzerland that presented with an acute alcohol intoxication between 1st June 2012 and 31th Mai 2017. Patient and emergency consultations' characteristics, related injuries, intubation and reason for intubations were extracted. As a subgroup analysis, we analysed the patients with a GCS < 9 without a traumatic brain injury.Results: Of 3003 consultations included from 01.06.2012 to 31.05.2017, 68 were intubated, leading to a proportional incidence of 2.3% intubations in alcohol-intoxication. Intubated patients had a lower blood alcohol concentration (1.3 g/kg [IQR 1.0-2.2] vs. 1.6 g/kg [IQR1.1-2.2], p = 0.034) and less often suffered from chronic alcohol abuse (1183 [39.4%] patients vs. 14 [20.6%], p = 0.001) than non-intubated patients. Patients with trauma were intubated more often (33 patients [48.5%] vs. 742 [25.3%], p < 0.001). In subgroup analysis, 110/145 patients (74.3%) were not intubated; again, more intubated patients had a history of trauma (9 patients [25.7%] vs. 10 [9.1%], p = 0.011).Conclusions: Intubation in alcohol-intoxicated patients is rare and, among intoxicated patients with GCS < 9, more than two thirds were not intubated in our study -without severe complications. Trauma in general, independent of the history of a traumatic brain injury, and a missing history of chronic alcohol abuse are associated with intubation, but not with blood alcohol concentration. Special caution is required for intoxicated patients with trauma or other additional intoxications or diseases.
Depth of anesthesia (DoA) monitors are widely used during general anesthesia to guide individualized dosing of hypnotics. Other than age and specific drugs, there are few reports on which comorbidities may influence the brain and the resultant electroencephalogram (EEG) of patients undergoing general anesthesia. We present a case of a patient undergoing 3 cardiac operations within 7 months with severe illness and comorbidity, leading to pronounced physical frailty and significant changes of frontal alpha power in the EEG and increased sensitivity to volatile anesthetics. These findings may have important clinical implications and should trigger further investigations on this topic.
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