An international study has found that one in 10 patients, or ten percent, of those who undergo general anaesthesia, were conscious of outside stimuli, shedding light on the medical phenomenon of ‘connected consciousness.’
“The data from the study has given us a crucial starting point in improving our understanding of ‘connected consciousness,’” said Prof. Robert Sanders from the University of Sydney.
‘Connected consciousness’ is a state of consciousness under general anaesthesia where the patient is aware of the outside environment and stimuli such as pain but may not be able to recall the event afterwards.
Experts reason that general anaesthesia is not as simple as ‘shutting down the brain globally’ but rather a reversal of conscious states, and depending on the anaesthetic agent and dosage, patients can be induced to states of consciousness….