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Innovative
anesthesia technology comes to MCG
A new patient monitoring system
in MCG Health System’s operating rooms now ensures that patients
will receive precisely the amount of anesthesia they need during a procedure,
eliminating some of the side effects of these drugs and speeding up recovery
time.
Known as the BIS ("biz") or Bispectral Index system, the technology
enables anesthesiologists to deliver a tailored dose of anesthesia to
meet each individual’s needs. During surgery, a sensor placed across
a patient’s
forehead continuously monitors brain waves. The brain waves are computed
into a number (ranging from 100 to zero) that correlates to a patient’s
level of consciousness. At 100 the patient is wide awake and under 60
the patient is unconscious, according to clinical studies. Anesthesiologists
are able to use these numbers to adjust anesthesia drugs to the proper
amounts as needed to control pain and induce unconsciousness throughout
an operation.
Before the BIS, anesthesiologists had to rely on vital signs, such as
heart rate, blood pressure and respiratory rate, to determine if a patient
required more or less anesthetic. But these are imprecise measures of
a patient’s consciousness and can lead to complications.
“With the BIS, we know we are giving each patient a more exact amount
of anesthetic that he or she requires, which can lessen the postoperative
side effects of the drugs, such as nausea and vomiting, and allow for
faster, more predictable recovery after surgery,” said Dr. James
Mayfield, vice chairman of anesthesiology and perioperative medicine at
MCG Health System. “Patients wake faster, feel more alert and go
home earlier.”
In addition, the system can help reduce the incidence of intraoperative
awareness. Though rare, occurring in only 0.1 percent of general anesthesia
surgical patients, this phenomenon can potentially be traumatic. Use of
the BIS system helps ensure that patients remain in a state of unconsciousness
during surgery. Studies discussing the success of BIS in reducing intraoperative
awareness as well as risk-adjusted mortality one year after surgery will
be presented at the American Society of Anesthesiologists meeting Oct.
11-15 (studies were also published in the journal Anesthesiology and are
available at www.anesthesiology.org).
The BIS system went online in the MCG operating rooms in the fall. “We
are now among the 55 percent of top-ranked institutions utilizing these
devices,” said Dr. Mayfield. On the research side, Dr. Mayfield will
also be leading a multi-center study of the new system, collecting data
over the next several months and tracking responses in the recovery room
to compare to past data.
MCG Health System is composed of three separate organizations — MCG
Health, Inc. and the clinical services offered by the faculty employees
of the Medical College of Georgia and the members of the Physicians Practice
Group. The physicians of MCG Health System are community physicians and
faculty employees of the Medical College of Georgia and the Physicians
Practice Group, not employees of MCG Health Inc. MCG Health, Inc. is a
not-for-profit corporation operating the MCG Medical Center, MCG Children's
Medical Center, the MCG Sports Medicine Center, MCG Ambulatory Care Center,
the Georgia Radiation Therapy Center and related clinical facilities and
services. MCG Health, Inc. was formed to support the research and education
mission of the Medical College of Georgia and to build the economic growth
of the CSRA, the state of Georgia and the Southeast by providing an environment
for faculty employees of the Medical College of Georgia and the Physicians
Practice Group and community physicians to deliver the highest level of
primary and specialty health care.
For more information, please visit www.MCGHealth.org.
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