4-choice Reaction Time Test for the Measurement of Psychomotor Recovery After General Anaesthesia

University Medicine Greifswald166 enrolled

Overview

The recovery of patients after general anaesthesia is usually estimated by using clinical signs and scores. Since there is a lack of the agreed objective methods for assessing cognitive and psychomotor recovery after general anaesthesia in ambulatory settings, the aim of this study was to evaluate three psychological tests for this purpose. Patients, who were scheduled for ambulatory gynaecological surgery, underwent 3 standard psychological tests before (T1), 15 minutes after the surgery (T2) and on discharge from the recovery room (T3). The tests used were Wechsler memory scale (test 1, working memory capacity), d2 - test (test 2, concentration endurance) and computer-based 4-choice-reaction time (4CRT, test 3, reaction time) as well as Postanesthesia Discharge Scoring System (PADSS). The same test battery was used in healthy female volunteers, all test results were compared at the different time points.

Study Type

OBSERVATIONAL

Enrollment

166

Conditions

Postoperative Complications

Interventions

General anaesthesiaPROCEDURE

Standard general anaesthesia for gynecologic surgery in patient group

Eligibility

Sex: FEMALEMin age: 18 YearsMax age: 60 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * consecutive patients scheduled for ambulatory gynaecologic surgery * age of 18 to 60 years * a physical status I-II according to American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) classification * fluency in German language and the ability to perform all tests Exclusion Criteria: * chronic consume of analgesics, psychotropic drugs, sedatives or alcohol * if the ambulatory surgery lasted more than 60 minutes * if the schema of standardised general anaesthesia was changed * if the ambulatory setting was changed and the patients unexpectedly remained over night in the hospital.

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

4CRT_15_min

Change of four choice reaction time (4CRT) at 15 minutes after surgery from baseline

Time frame: 15 minutes after the end of surgery

Secondary Outcomes

PADSS (Patient Discharge Scoring System)

Post Anaesthetic Discharge Scoring System (PADSS) is a clinically-based, objective scoring system used to measure the home readiness of patients following day surgery. PADSS consists of six criteria: ambulation, circulation (blood pressure monitoring), nausea/vomiting, pain and surgical bleeding bleeding. Each criterion is given a score ranging from 0 to 2, maximal score is 10. Only patients who achieve a score of 9 or more are considered ready for discharge.

Time frame: Measured 60 minutes after the end of surgery