Anaesthesia
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Observational Study
An observational study of the 'isolated forearm technique' in unparalysed, spontaneously breathing patients.
The isolated forearm technique enables a patient, otherwise paralysed by neuromuscular blockade, to communicate by movement if wakeful during surgery. The positive response rate to verbal command is high (~32%). The 5th National Audit Project recommended that this monitoring technique should become more widely taught and considered, so this study was designed to assess its utility as a standard of care in unparalysed patients. ⋯ Even at extubation, when patients moved to expel the airway, there was no response to command until after wakening. These results suggest that in contrast to its use in paralysed patients, the isolated forearm technique does not yield useful information about the patient's state of wakefulness in the unparalysed. Another interpretation is that unparalysed patients are less prone to wakefulness than the paralysed.