When a person is anesthetized, what becomes of the human mind? Anesthesiologists once imagined that the mind and body entered together into the unconscious state of anesthesia. In recent years, however, both experience and research have revealed that anesthesia has a variety of effects on the mind, in both its unconscious and subconscious states. In some cases the mind continues to function, and even retains memories of the experiences under anesthetic – a state anesthesiologists called “intraoperative awareness.” Understanding these processes and their effects is the work of anesthesiologists attending the 9th International Symposium on Memory and Awareness in Anesthesia (MAA). Many Weill Cornell Anesthesiology faculty were participants in last year’s MAA9 Symposium in Tokyo. A recent special issue of the British Journal of Anaesthesia, devoted to the symposium, was co-edited by Department of Anesthesiology Chair Hugh C. Hemmings, Jr., MD, PhD, who also is an editor of the journal.
The 9th International Symposium on Memory and Awareness in Anesthesia, subtitled, “Minding the Mind of the Subconscious Self,” held from June 20-23, 2014, was chaired by Dr. Jiro Kurata of the Tokyo Medical and Dental University. Where earlier MAA conferences had focused on subjects ranging “from the neuroscience of anesthetic action, memory, and consciousness to the clinical aspects of awareness during anesthesia,” MAA9 “emphasized the clinical aspects, particularly epidemiology, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of intraoperative awareness.” With new perspectives on subjects of popular interest (such as patients who awaken early from anesthesia), many of the Symposium’s findings have been discussed in the mainstream media, including the BBC.
The Symposium and its coverage in the BJA featured several Weill Cornell Anesthesiology faculty and alumni. Dr. Hugh Hemmings is an editor of the BJA, and planned and coordinated the special July 2015 issue of the journal. Contributors included Alex Proekt, MD, PhD, and Andrew Hudson, MD, both alumni of our Residency Program and both past holders of the Van Poznak Research Scholarship; Robert Vesilis, MD, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering, who also holds a faculty appointment at WCMC; and Kane Pryor, MD, the Department of Anesthesiology’s Director of Clinical Research and of Education. Their contributions, and the special issue of the BJA, mark a milestone in the study of intraoperative awareness, as the field expands into new areas of research and explores clinical solutions to the challenges that patients face.
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