ANTIPODES The Australian National Trial Investigating Post-Operative Deficit, Early Extubation And Survival

Funder

National Health and Medical Research Council

Funding Amount

$370,509.00

Summary

Brain damage following cardiac surgery is an unfortunate but common complication occuring variously in 30-80% of patients. Although severe strokes are uncommon (<1%), more subtle effects such as forgetfulness or behaviour changes may persist and make daily living difficult. Many attempts have been made to identify the exact cause of the brain damage, but no answer has been forthcoming. Recently, the introduction of modern anaesthetic techniques, which allow patients to wake up quickly after t .... Brain damage following cardiac surgery is an unfortunate but common complication occuring variously in 30-80% of patients. Although severe strokes are uncommon (<1%), more subtle effects such as forgetfulness or behaviour changes may persist and make daily living difficult. Many attempts have been made to identify the exact cause of the brain damage, but no answer has been forthcoming. Recently, the introduction of modern anaesthetic techniques, which allow patients to wake up quickly after the operation, have given strong indications that they may also cause less brain damage. We plan to test this aspect of modern anaesthesia, by comparing the results of tests for brain damage after anaesthesia that has been given by traditional methods and the recent method which allows patients to wake up quickly.
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