Do we feel pain during anesthesia? A critical review on surgery-evoked circulatory changes and pain perception

The difficulty of defining the three so-called components of « an-esthesia » is emphasized: hypnosis, absence of movement, and adequacy of anti-nociception (intraoperative « analgesia »). Data obtained from anesthetized animals or humans delineate the activation of cardiac and vasomotor sympathetic reflex (somato-sympathetic reflex) and the cardiac parasympathetic deactivation observed following somatic stimuli. Sympathetic activation and parasympathetic deactivation are used as monitors to address the adequacy of intraoperative anti-nociception. Finally, intraoperative nociception through the administration of nonopioid analgesics vs. opioid analgesics is considered to achieve minimal postoperative side effects.