SEDATION  SMART 2002 Milan, May 29-31, 2002 Free

Minerva Anestesiologica 2002 April;68(4):248-51

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

How useful is the bispectral index in the management of ICU patients?

Ball J.

From the Lecturer in Intensive Care Medicine St George’s Hospital Medical School, London, UK

If you ­want to objec­tive­ly quan­ti­fy the lev­el of seda­tion the intui­tive solu­tion ­must be to mon­i­tor the ­brain direct­ly. How­ev­er, due to the com­plex­ity of ­this ­organ, and our lim­it­ed under­stand­ing of con­scious­ness, ­this ­remains a daunt­ing chal­lenge. For ­many ­years, research­ers ­have inves­ti­gat­ed the electri­cal activ­ity of the ­brain and its rela­tion­ship ­with con­scious lev­el. ­Over the ­last few ­years, a ­derived var­i­able ­from the EEG, the Bispec­tral ­Index (BIS), has ­been devel­oped, ­which ­appears to cor­re­late ­quite ­well ­with the lev­el of phar­mac­o­log­i­cal seda­tion.