An anaesthesia researcher says New Zealand patients should ask for new brain wave monitoring equipment to be used during surgery in order to reduce the possibility of remaining alert during operations.
Paul Myles of Melbourne's Alfred Hospital told a Dunedin conference the incidence of awareness under surgery in the past 10 years had dropped from one or two in 100 to one in a 1,000.
Myles says in the past, patients reporting they were aware during operations have been treated badly, but there is a new attitude among anaesthetists as well as new equipment patients should know about.
Advertisement
