Minerva Anestesiol. 1980 Mar; 46(3): 371-86.

[EEG evaluation of patients undergoing extracorporeal circulation under analgesic and electrohypoalgesia with auricular acupuncture]

Pilloni C, Caracausi RS, Tognali F, Sbarbaro V.

Electroencephalograms recorded 12 hours before and 12 hours after heart surgery in ECC and moderate hypothermia (30 degrees) are evaluated. Two groups of patients were studied: - the first group was composed of those undergoing analgesic anaesthesia; - the second group of those undergoing electroencephalograms by means of auricular acupuncture. In the first group the postoperative EEG was dominated by long "theta" and "delta" waves characteristic of the deep sedation of analgesic anaesthesia. In the second the EEG displayed a "theta" rhythm interspersed with trains of "alpha" waves, similar to that of a tired, but alert person. The pathological traces with signs of diffused, hemispheric or cerebral distress, do not bear any relationship to the type of anaesthesia, but to the type of disease, which had increased the probability of thrombo-embolic, and/or ischaemic risk.