Non-word reading test vs anaesthesia. How do anaesthetised patients decode the contents without referring to the meaning?

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to examine the phonological functioning (reading speed and accuracy) of hospital patients under general anaesthesia administered during colonoscopy. Methods: In this study the 'Łatysz' non-word reading test was used to measure the impact of selected anaesthetics on the phonological aspect of language processing (defined as decoding without referring to the meaning) in a group of 22 anaesthetised patients compared to 23 non-anaesthetised patients from university clinics. Results: Compared to the preoperative performance, a decrease in reading accuracy and reading speed was observed only in the Anaesthesia Group -AG (in the subjects aged ≥ 35 years) 1.5 h after the administration of anaesthetics. Postoperatively, the AG were significantly slower and less accurate than the Control Group -CG -after 1.5 h. After 3 h, the AG had regained their baseline values both in reading accuracy and reading speed. During the last assessment session, the AG pronounced 82% of the words correctly, while the CG pronounced 74% correctly. Moreover, subjects aged ≥ 35 years performed worse than younger subjects in their reading accuracy and speed. Conclusions: The patients who underwent colonoscopy under general anaesthesia manifested impaired phonological functioning shortly after the procedure, both in the speed and accuracy of reading non-words. However, the accuracy problems subsided relatively quickly.

The role of tomatis sound therapy in the treatment of difficulties in reading in children with developmental dyslexia.

“…The Latysz non-word reading test contains 71 non-words' tasks. All of them have varying difficulty [9]. They follow the rules of phonology and morphology.…”

Doctor, my father is no longer the same!

“…The work from Płotek and colleagues [6] that you can find later on in this issue, is a successful example of such collaboration between anaesthesia and psychology. It will surely make the reader reflect on the importance to push on interdisciplinary research, especially on topics such as postoperative cognitive dysfunction, that can have severe consequences on patients' quality of life, but our knowledge for its effective prevention or therapy is still limited.…”

“…In particular, patients over age of 60 seem to be at risk of developing a POCD, even if it can arise at any age. In the work from Płotek and colleagues in this issue [6], for example, phonological impairment was found more severe in patients older than 35 years. They also found this deficit to last over 6 hours postoperatively (in terms of speed processing), but we know that POCD may last even up to six months.…”

“…As Płotek and colleagues write in their paper, "modern anaesthetic administration, which affects cognitive processing and nervous system activity, provides an opportunity to control human consciousness in a reversible manner" [6]. In this sentence, I believe, is contained the essence of what modern anaesthesiology and medicine should be: an interdisciplinary profession, strictly linked not only, it is obvious, to biology and physiology, but also to psychology.…”