Awareness under anesthesia and the development of posttraumatic stress disorder

Failure of general anesthesia to render a patient insensate, termed “awareness,” is estimated to affect between 40,000 and 140,000 patients in the US each year. This study investigated the occurrence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in subjects who reported a past episode of intraoperative a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:General hospital psychiatry 2001-07, Vol.23 (4), p.198-204
Main Authors: Osterman, Janet E, Hopper, James, Heran, William J, Keane, Terence M, van der Kolk, Bessel A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Anesthesia
Anesthesia, General - adverse effects
Anesthesia. Intensive care medicine. Transfusions. Cell therapy and gene therapy
Anxiety disorders. Neuroses
Awareness
Biological and medical sciences
Chronic Disease
Dissociative Disorders - diagnosis
Female
General anesthesia. Technics. Complications. Neuromuscular blocking. Premedication. Surgical preparation. Sedation
Humans
Intraoperative Care
Male
Medical sciences
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Severity of Illness Index
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - diagnosis
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - psychology
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - therapy
Surveys and Questionnaires
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Summary:Failure of general anesthesia to render a patient insensate, termed “awareness,” is estimated to affect between 40,000 and 140,000 patients in the US each year. This study investigated the occurrence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in subjects who reported a past episode of intraoperative awareness. We inquired about intraoperative and postoperative experiences and studied the relationship between various surgical experiences and currently meeting the diagnosis of PTSD. Sixteen postawareness subjects and 10 postgeneral anesthesia controls completed the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS), a standardized clinical rating scale for PTSD, and a questionnaire about peri-operative experiences. Nine of 16 subjects (56.3%), a mean of 17.9 postoperative years, and no controls met diagnostic criteria for current PTSD ( X 2= 8.6, df = 1, P
ISSN:0163-8343
1873-7714
DOI:10.1016/S0163-8343(01)00142-6