Prevalence of awareness during anesthesia induced by three different techniques for cesarean section

¯Abstract Background: Aawareness during anesthesia causes many psychological problems for the patients and the society. Objective: To compare the prevalence rate of awareness during cesarean section with three anesthetic techniques. Methods: Through a prospective clinical trial, 178 patients were randomly divided into three sets as group A (101), group B (50), and group C (27) based on the type of drug received. The induction of anesthesia was carried out using thiopental 5 mg/kg in group A and propofol 2-2.5mg/kg in groups B and C. Maintenance of anesthesia was accomplished using halotan and N2O in groups A and B and propofol infusion and N2O in Group C. Following the extraction of neonate, only fentanyl (1.5mg/kg) was administered for groups A and B while in Group C fentanyl (1.5mg/kg) plus midazolan (2mg) was used. Muscle relaxant used in three Groups was the same. During the time between induction of anesthesia to extubation of tracheal tube, a tape containing part of Quran was played. Eight hours after wakefulness and using a questionnaire, the patients were asked about feeling of pain during surgery, remembering of Quran voice or accidents during surgery. The data were analyzed using chi-square test. Findings: Among 178 patients under the study, 7 cases (3.9%) had awareness of grade I during anesthesia in which 2 patients were the members of group A (2%), 3 patients of group B (6%) and 2 patients of Group C (7.4%). The differences found in the study were not significant from a statistical point of view (p>0.05). There was no direct relationship between the age, educational status and indication of CS with the prevalence of awareness during anesthesia. Conclusion:The prevalence of awareness during anesthesia in CS by three different anesthetic techniques (Thiopental-halotan, propofol-halotan, and propofol-midazolam) was almost equal.