BIS-guided anaesthesia reduced the risk of confirmed awareness by 82% compared to routine care in at-risk adult surgical patients (0.16% vs 0.89%; P=0.022).
RCT (n=2,463)
Double-blind
randomly allocated
Yes
Does BIS-guided anesthesia reduce the incidence of awareness during surgery in adult patients at high risk of awareness?
BIS-guided anesthesia significantly reduces the risk of intraoperative awareness in high-risk surgical patients compared to routine care.
Effect estimate: 82% risk reduction (95% CI 17-98)
Absolute Event Rate: 0.16% vs 0.89%
Number Needed to Treat: 138
p-value: p=0.022
Awareness is an uncommon complication of anaesthesia, affecting 0.1-0.2% of all surgical patients. Bispectral index (BIS) monitoring measures the depth of anaesthesia and facilitates anaesthetic titration. In this trial we determined whether BIS-guided anaesthesia reduced the incidence of awareness during surgery in adults.We did a prospective, randomised, double-blind, multicentre trial. Adult patients at high risk of awareness were randomly allocated to BIS-guided anaesthesia or routine care. Patients were assessed by a blinded observer for awareness at 2-6 h, 24-36 h, and 30 days after surgery. An independent committee, blinded to group identity, assessed every report of awareness. The primary outcome measure was confirmed awareness under anaesthesia at any time.Of 2463 eligible and consenting patients, 1225 were assigned to the BIS group and 1238 to the routine care group. There were two reports of awareness in the BIS-guided group and 11 reports in the routine care group (p=0.022). BIS-guided anaesthesia reduced the risk of awareness by 82% (95% CI 17-98%).BIS-guided anaesthesia reduces the risk of awareness in at-risk adult surgical patients undergoing relaxant general anaesthesia. With a cost of routine BIS monitoring at US16 dollars per use in Australia and a number needed to treat of 138, the cost of preventing one case of awareness in high-risk patients is about 2200 dollars.
Mędrzycka‐Dąbrowska et al. (Sun,) conducted a rct in High risk of awareness during surgery and general anaesthesia (n=2,463). Bispectral index (BIS)-guided anaesthesia vs. Routine care was evaluated on Confirmed awareness under anaesthesia at any time (82% risk reduction, 95% CI 17-98, p=0.022). BIS-guided anaesthesia reduced the risk of confirmed awareness by 82% compared to routine care in at-risk adult surgical patients (0.16% vs 0.89%; P=0.022).