Psychophysiological responses to anesthesia and operation

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Abstract
The results documented here are from a precisely managed but small group of patients so that conventional statistical analyses are inappropriate. There are, however, definite indications of what the answers to the original questions might be when a more extensive investigation is completed. In the circumstances of the present experiment the following findings were noted. Each patient showed a similar overall pattern of reactivity for the same autonomic measure. The patterns of response for different measures were not necessarily similar. The degree of autonomic arousal was modified by preanesthetic medication and this persisted throughout the period of observation. Crile''s hypothesis that noxious stimuli do reach the central nervous system of a patient under general anesthesia was substantiated. In general it was concluded that preoperative anxiety does significantly affect the patient''s physiological status, and it is suspected that a high level of anxiety may be more disruptive physiologically than is often recognized.

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