General anesthesia: awareness
Obstetrics carries the highest awareness risk of any surgery.
Accidental awareness during general anesthesia means being conscious during surgery while unable to move. Across all surgery in a UK national audit, it occurred in roughly 1 in 19,600 anesthetics. For cesarean delivery under general anesthesia, the rate was roughly 1 in 670.
The reason is specific to obstetrics. Anesthetic doses are kept deliberately light to protect the baby, and the situation is usually urgent.
1 in 670
Awareness during general anesthesia for cesarean
UK national audit
1 in 19,600
Awareness across all surgery
Same audit
This is a strong argument for regional anesthesia whenever there is time for it, and a strong argument for telling any woman facing general anesthesia that this is a known risk.
Where this comes from:
41. Pandit JJ, Andrade J, Bogod DG, et al. 5th National Audit Project (NAP5) on accidental awareness during general anaesthesia: summary of main findings and risk factors. Br J Anaesth. 2014;113(4):549-559.
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This page is educational. It supports the conversation with your own clinicians. It is not consent to any treatment, and it cannot assess you.