Brain Mechanisms of Emergence and Recovery from Anesthesia: EEG and Clinical Features

The use of encephalography (EEG), as applied to various aspects of anesthesia, has burgeoned in recent decades. It has found use in both elucidating the basic science mechanisms of general anesthesia through animal models; and also in the operating room as a clinical monitor of the effects of the anesthetic drugs on the brain. Perhaps the greatest potential role for peri-operative EEG monitoring is in detecting and predicting patients suffering or at risk for adverse cognitive recoveries after surgery with general anesthesia. There are many special constraints on the acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of the EEG signal that are very particular to its use in anesthesia; and quite different from EEG use for the more traditional fields of EEG – such as applied to epilepsy and sleep medicine.

In this Research Topic, we will include any article (original research, reviews, opinion, hypothesis and theory, etc.) regarding network mechanisms of emergence from anesthesia as well as all aspects of signal processing and analysis of the EEG during both anesthesia, emergence and recovery from anesthesia. By this we hope to establish some accepted norms for the process of reporting EEG studies, and also a clear understanding of the advantages and deficiencies of the plethora of new methods that have been applied to EEG during anesthesia in recent years.