According to IASP (International Association for the Study of Pain) the definition of pain is: An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage. Furthermore, is expanded on: 1) Pain and nociception are different phenomena. Pain cannot be inferred solely from activity in sensory neurons and 2) Verbal description is only one of several behaviors to express pain; inability to communicate does not negate the possibility that a human or a nonhuman animal experiences pain. Continue reading
General anaesthesia is associated with a reduction in heart rate variability (HRV) compared to awake situation. In this study the hypothesis of reduction in HRV was tested in two different levels of anaesthesia depth. Forty six patients were randomly allocated in two groups, where anaesthesia was maintained with sevoflurane (n=23) or propofol (n=23). Administration of both anaesthetics was regulated in order to achieve a BIS value 25±5, followed by an increase to 55±5, both being stable for 5 min.
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