Few people may experience awareness during general anesthesia.

The Los Angeles Times (3/12, Brown, 692K) reported that "few people experience awareness during general anesthesia," according to "initial survey results detailed Tuesday in the journal Anaesthesia. Working as part of the fifth National Audit Project of the Royal College of Anaesthetists and the Assn. of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland, the study's coauthors sent a questionnaire about 'accidental awareness' by patients during general anesthesia to all of the senior anesthetists in Britain. They got responses back from 7,125, or 82%, of the physicians they polled."

        HealthDay (3/13, Preidt) reports, "Previous research has suggested a high rate of accidental awareness, occurring in about one in 500 patients. But this study found that the rate was one in 15,000." In addition, investigators "found that only about two percent of anesthetists routinely use brain-monitoring equipment to keep tabs on patients during surgery." BBC News (3/12, Roberts) also covered the story.