Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37914581›Full record

ArticleBritish journal of anaesthesia2024

Evaluation of putative signatures of consciousness using specific definitions of responsiveness, connectedness, and consciousness.

Cameron P Casey, Sean Tanabe, Zahra Z Farahbakhsh, Margaret Parker, Amber Bo, Marissa White, Tyler Ballweg, Andrew Mcintosh, William Filbey, Matthew I Banks and 3 more

Registry-linked trialAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in British journal of anaesthesia, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03284307 (UNderstanding CONSciousness Connectedness and Intraoperative Unresponsiveness Study), which is not on this map. Cited by 13 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
13citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT03284307 phase4completednot on this map

UNderstanding CONSciousness Connectedness and Intraoperative Unresponsiveness Study

TypeinterventionalSponsorUniversity of Wisconsin, MadisonRan2017 to 2020Enrolled35ConditionsUnconsciousness, ConsciousnessArmsDexmedetomidine, Ketamine, Propofol, Midazolam
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

13 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Review
  3. Review
  4. Dreaming during anaesthesia: a scoping review.British journal of anaesthesia · 2026
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Review
  13. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

13 authors.

Cameron P CaseyDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA. Electronic address: cpcasey3@wisc.edu.
Sean TanabeDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
Zahra Z FarahbakhshDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
Margaret ParkerDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
Amber BoDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
Marissa WhiteDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
Tyler BallwegDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
Andrew McintoshDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
William FilbeyDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
Matthew I BanksDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
Yuri B SaalmannDepartment of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
Robert A PearceDepartment of Anesthesiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
Robert D SandersSpecialty of Anaesthetics & NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia; Department of Anaesthetics, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown, NSW, Australia; Institute of Academic Surgery, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown, NSW, Australia. Electronic address: robert.sanders@sydney.edu.au.

Funding

Thalamic and cortical mechanisms of anesthetic-induced unconsciousnessR01GM109086 · NIGMS · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · PI Matthew I Banks, Kirill V Nourski · 2014 to 2026
$5.7M
Receptors, microcircuits and hierarchical connectivity in predictive coding and sensory awarenessR01NS117901 · NINDS · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · PI SAALMANN, YURI B · 2020 to 2024
$2.1M
NIGMS NIH HHS R01 GM109086NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS117901
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundUnderstanding the neural correlates of consciousness has important ramifications for the theoretical understanding of consciousness and for clinical anaesthesia. A major limitation of prior studies is the use of responsiveness as an index of consciousness. We identified a collection of measures derived from unresponsive subjects and more specifically their association with consciousness (any subjective experience) or connectedness (specific experience of environmental stimuli).

methodsUsing published data generated through the UNderstanding Consciousness Connectedness and Intra-Operative Unresponsiveness Study (NCT03284307), we evaluated 10 previously published resting-state EEG-based measures that were derived using unresponsiveness as a proxy for unconsciousness. Measures were tested across dexmedetomidine and propofol sedation and natural sleep. These markers represent the complexity, connectivity, cross-frequency coupling, graph theory, and power spectrum measures.

resultsAlthough many of the proposed markers were associated with consciousness per se (reported subjective experience), none were specific to consciousness alone; rather, each was also associated with connectedness (i.e. awareness of the environment). In addition, multiple markers showed no association with consciousness and were associated only with connectedness. Of the markers tested, loss of normalised-symbolic transfer entropy (front to back) was associated with connectedness across all three experimental conditions, whereas the transition from disconnected consciousness to unconsciousness was associated with significant decreases in permutation entropy and spectral exponent (P<0.05 for all conditions).

conclusionsNone of the proposed EEG-based neural correlates of unresponsiveness corresponded solely to consciousness, highlighting the need for a more conservative use of the term (un)consciousness when assessing unresponsive participants. CLINICAL

trial registrationNCT03284307.

Indexed as

ConsciousnessPropofolElectroencephalographyHumansHypnotics and SedativesSleepUnconsciousnessHypnotics and SedativesPropofolconsciousnesselectroencephalographyintraoperative responsivenesssensory awarenesssensory disconnection

Identifiers

PMID37914581
PMCPMC10808836

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.