EEGs during high-dose fentanyl-, sufentanil-, or morphine-oxygen anesthesia

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Anesthesiology
• Computational Neuroscience

Background:

• Opioid analgesics are commonly used in high-dose anesthesia for open-heart surgery.
• Understanding the electroencephalographic (EEG) effects of different opioids is crucial for patient monitoring and anesthetic management.
• Computerized EEG analysis offers objective measures of brain activity changes during anesthesia.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the EEG effects of high-dose morphine, fentanyl, and sufentanil during open-heart surgery.
• To analyze and display EEG changes using period and aperiodic analysis techniques.

Main Methods:

• EEG data were collected from 49 patients undergoing open-heart surgery.
• Patients received high-dose morphine, fentanyl, or sufentanil with oxygen.
• Two computerized EEG analysis techniques were employed: period analysis (Klein method) and aperiodic analysis (Neurometrics monitor).

Main Results:

• Fentanyl and sufentanil anesthesia caused a significant decrease in EEG frequency, characterized by increased very low-frequency power (TP1) and cumulative percent power at 3 Hz (CP3), with a decrease in the 90% cumulative percent power frequency (F90).
• Morphine exhibited less pronounced EEG changes, with some high-frequency power attenuation but no significant change in TP1.
• Both fentanyl and sufentanil led to decreased low-frequency power and TP1 between laryngoscopy and incision.

Conclusions:

• High-dose fentanyl and sufentanil induce substantial, comparable changes in EEG frequency during open-heart surgery.
• Morphine demonstrates a different EEG profile compared to fentanyl and sufentanil.
• Computerized EEG analysis effectively quantifies opioid-induced alterations in brain activity during major surgery.