Incidence of awareness with recall during general anesthesia

Background: Experience of awareness and recall during general anesthesia can be very distressing for patients. There is no doubt that surgery pain is the most distressing feature of awareness. This condition can cause neurosis in patients. If patient be aware during surgery and be able to hear some comment, she or he senses weakness, paralysis, feeling of helpless and anxiety, panic and death. The main goal of this study is determine the incidence of awareness with recall during general anesthesia. Materials and methods: This cross sectional study carried out on 1500 patients (ASA Class I) that underwent elective surgery in Shohadie-Ashayer hospital. The assessment tool was a questionnaire filled out by interview with patients after 20 – 36 hrs post-operation. Results: 1056 (70.59%) of patients were males and 442 (29.41%) were female. for 900 patients (60%), Benzodizepines (Midazolame or diazepam) was used as a pre-medication and for all patients opioids were used for analgesia. Inductive drug was Thiopental sodium for all patients. Only 6 patients (0.4%) were aware and recalled some comments during general anesthesia. Conclusion: regarding the undesired effects of awareness and recall during general anesthesia, use of drugs such as benzodizepines for premedication, opioids for analgesia and acceptable concentration of inhaled anesthetics for preventing these terrible events are necessary.