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@misc{cogprints1633,
volume = {92},
title = {Direct Current Auditory Evoked Potentials During Wakefulness, Anesthesia, and Emergence from Anesthesia},
author = {Robert Fitzgerald and Claus Lamm and Wolfgang Oczenski and Thomas Stimpfl and Walter Vycudilik and Herbert Bauer},
year = {2001},
pages = {154--160},
journal = {Anesthesia and Analgesia},
keywords = {anesthesia, DC-potentials, monitoring of anesthesia, EEG, consciousness},
url = {http://cogprints.org/1633/},
abstract = {Direct current auditory evoked potentials (DC-AEPs)
are a sensitive indicator of depth of anesthesia in ani-mals. However, they have never been investigated in
humans. To assess the potential usefulness of DC-AEPs
as an indicator of anesthesia in humans, we performed
an explorative study in which DC-AEPs were recorded
during propofol and methohexital anesthesia in hu-mans.
DC-AEPs were recorded via 22 scalp electrodes
in 19 volunteers randomly assigned to receive either
propofol or methohexital. DC-AEPs were evoked by
binaurally presented 2-s, 60-dB, 800-Hz tones; meas-urements
were taken during awake baseline, anesthesia,
and emergence. Statistical analysis included analy-sis
of variance and discriminant analysis of data
acquired during these three conditions. About 500 ms
after stimulus presentation, DC-AEPs could be ob-served.
These potentials were present only during base-line
and emergence?not during anesthesia. Statistically
significant differences were found between
baseline and anesthesia and between anesthesia and
emergence. In conclusion, similar effects, as reported in
animal studies of anesthetics on the DC-AEPs, could be
observed in anesthetized humans. These results dem-onstrate
that DC-AEPs are potentially useful in the assessment
of cortical function during anesthesia and
might qualify the method for monitoring anesthesia in
humans.}
}