The nature of consciousness in anaesthesia
BJA Open September 26, 2023 Javier Montupil, Paolo Cardone, Cécile Staquet et al. 32 citations
The source of consciousness is widely thought to be within the brain, and anesthesiologists have their own operational definition based on observations during anesthesia. The full functional correlates of consciousness remain unclear, but several theories have gained varying support from experiments, including those using anesthesia to reversibly alter aspects of consciousness. Understanding these mechanisms could improve patient management by enabling monitoring devices that detect different states during anesthesia: unconsciousness, internal awareness with or without conscious perception of the environment (connected or disconnected consciousness). Unresponsiveness does not guarantee absence of connectedness or consciousness. This narrative review presents current knowledge from a system-level perspective, highlighting anesthesia's contribution to theories of consciousness and proposing future research directions.