Central Nervous System Monitoring in Anesthesia and Intensive Care

Research in electrophysiologic monitoring in anesthesia and intensive care has focussed mostly on questions pertinent for patient care: First how to quantitate drug effects on brain electrical activity and the degree of anesthetic-induced suppression of the central nervous system. Second, how to monitor functional impairment following cerebral ischemia and hypoxia. And third, how to differ- entiate between drug-induced effects on the central nervous system and deleteri- ous events related to reductions in cerebral blood flow and/or oxygen delivery. Even though progress has been achieved over the last 10 years in this field and fascinating new techniques have been developed, it is still not clear which monitor parameter will provide adequate information on the depth of anes- thesia and the analgesic level. Because the central nervous system has been one of the main research areas in our department over the last 10 years, we organized a workshop to summarize the latest developments in central nervous system monitoring. This book comprises the topics of this workshop and is intended to provide insight into the current status of central nervous system monitoring, elucidating possible indications and delineating its limitations.