Psychiatric consequences of intraoperative awareness: short review and case series

Abstract

Intraoperative awareness is an unwanted outcome that consists of an explicit recall of events during a surgical procedure performed under general anesthesia. Despite its relatively infrequent occurrence, intraoperative awareness is of significant concern due to frequent adverse psychiatric sequelae. We present three patients who developed posttraumatic sequelae following an episode of awareness under anesthesia and discuss the importance of early detection and specific care.

Keywords: Anesthesia; Awareness; Stress disorders.