Anesthesiology
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Observational Study
Dynamic Cortical Connectivity during General Anesthesia in Surgical Patients.
Simple measurement of cortical functional connectivity will not be enough to assess adequacy of general anesthesia.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Nasopharyngeal Tube Effects on Breathing during Sedation for Dental Procedures: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
Dental procedures under sedation can cause hypoxic events and even death. However, the mechanism of such hypoxic events is not well understood. ⋯ Patients under sedation for dental procedure frequently encounter obstructive apnea/hypopnea events. The majority of the obstructive apnea/hypopnea events were not detectable by pulse oximetry. The effectiveness of a small-diameter nasopharyngeal tube to mitigate the events is limited.
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A key feature of the human brain is its capability to adapt flexibly to changing external stimuli. This capability can be eliminated by general anesthesia, a state characterized by unresponsiveness, amnesia, and (most likely) unconsciousness. Previous studies demonstrated decreased connectivity within the thalamus, frontoparietal, and default mode networks during general anesthesia. We hypothesized that these alterations within specific brain networks lead to a change of communication between networks and their temporal dynamics. ⋯ These results suggest that (1) higher-order brain regions play a crucial role in the generation of specific between-network connectivity patterns and their dynamics, and (2) the capability to interact with external stimuli is represented by complex between-network connectivity patterns.