How Common is Awareness Under Anesthesia?
Awareness under anesthesia occurs in around .1 to .2 percent of general anesthesia cases, or one to two documented cases in every thousand surgeries. The rarity of anesthesia awareness has declined radically, thanks to a number of developments in the field of anesthesiology, making awareness under anesthesia thankfully extremely rare. That said, it can be extremely traumatic, and patients who experience anesthesia awareness are generally encouraged to seek psychological treatment to address the emotional trauma associated with this rare surgical complication.
Awareness under anesthesia occurs in around .1 to .2 percent of general anesthesia cases, or one to two documented cases in every thousand surgeries. The rarity of anesthesia awareness has declined radically, thanks to a number of developments in the field of anesthesiology, making awareness under anesthesia thankfully extremely rare. That said, it can be extremely traumatic, and patients who experience anesthesia awareness are generally encouraged to seek psychological treatment to address the emotional trauma associated with this rare surgical complication. Anesthesia awareness, also called unintended intraoperative awareness, is a surgical complication characterized by patient awareness of a surgical procedure despite the use of a general anesthetic. There are a number of different types of anesthesia awareness. For example, some people remember the procedure, but do not have any physical sensations, while others experience pressure or pain as the surgery is performed. Some patients
