Quantitative EEG During Anesthesia Emergence in Children

Most drugs used in general anesthesia work on various receptors in the human brain, causing unconsciousness, loss of memory, and loss of reflection of the autonomic nervous system. After the anesthesia, baseline physiological function will be attained by administration of some reversal drugs or as the time goes by. In this process, various side effects may occur. Emergence delirium (ED) is a representative behavioral disturbance after general anesthesia in children and that can cause several problems during the recovery period. Previous EEG studies reported that this phenomenon is related to hyperexcitation of the brain, and occurrence of epileptiform discharges during anesthesia induction may indicate an increased vulnerability for the development of a functional brain disorder in these children. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no studies concern evaluating quantitative EEG parameters for prediction of this postoperative negative behavior in children.