Mar

24

Historic Meeting in Munich

March 24, 2008

Munich, with its beautiful parks, outstanding museums, art galleries and Bavarian nightlife, provided an exciting arena for the 7th International Symposium on Memory, Awareness and Anaesthesia (MAA7 13th-15th March 2008), and signposted the way ahead for this groundbreaking meeting. The Symposiums are inspiring multi-disciplinary forums for academics and professionals at the forefront of research, not only into the effects of anaesthetic drugs on the brain, but also into the psychological and neurological consequences on patients - children as well as adults - who have implicit and explicit memories of surgical procedures while supposedly unconscious. The invitation to present a patient’s viewpoint at MAA7 was an historic milestone for AANUK&I, not least because it gave Sally the moving opportunity to meet and work with Carol Weihrer, President of the Anaesthetic Awareness Campaign Inc., in person.

The quality of the presentations , a full list of which can be seen on the MAA7 website (click here: then ‘Program’, then ‘Scientific’), was very high. Prominent throughout was the ongoing question regarding the monitoring, prevention and outcomes of awareness under anaesthesia. Among the many excellent presentations was that of Ian Russell, who gave us a passionate reminder of the value of using the gold-standard Isolated Forearm Technique (IFT) which enables patients to tell their anaesthetist how they are feeling whilst under general anaesthesia, thus ensuring that awareness is safely registered and dealt with immediately.

Manufacturers of leading cortical activity monitors, such as the BIS (Aspect), and the CSI (Danmeter), were represented at the highest level, as sponsors, presenters and lively debaters. Furthermore, an innovative programme of support for patients, available to hospitals and individuals, which empowers them to overcome fears when facing the prospect of surgery (and the possibility of an awareness experience), was presented by its pioneer Shelley Freeman, who is herself an awareness survivor.

Posters and presentations from all over the world, including New Zealand, Australia, Finland, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Sweden, USA and the UK ensured lively discussions throughout, as well as rich inter-cultural exchanges. On the final day of the conference, both Sally and Carol had been invited to give the ‘patient voice’ to the Symposium. Carol, who had defied all the odds in making the transatlantic crossing to Munich only three weeks after undergoing major surgery, spoke powerfully from her wheelchair about the many important advances in the work of the Anaesthetic Awareness Campaign Inc. over the last four years. She highlighted the sad and terrible death of the Rev. Sizemore, attributable to his implicit memories of awareness under anaesthesia, and spoke of the vital work that her Campaign is doing in America to flag-up the horrific consequences of delivering muscle relaxants to prisoners who are being executed following their death-penalty sentences. Sally presented the ongoing work of the Network, and followed this by inviting listeners to enter into the emotions underlying an experience of awareness, through visualising and reflecting on some personal insights into being ‘awake under the knife’. Both Sally and Carol received standing ovations for their talks, a testament not only to how well the presentations were delivered, but also to the intelligent humility, openness and generosity of the Symposium audience and organisers themselves.

Interviews flagging up the purpose of the meeting were made for Bavarian Radio (Bayerische Rundfunk), and the abstracts delivered to the conference will be published in a future edition of the British Medical Journal. At the end of the conference, a prize for the best research Poster was given for Anthony Hudetz’s outstanding presentation on ‘Anaesthetic Unconsciousness as a Result of Cortical Disintegration’.

Through such forums, and the much-appreciated ongoing consultancy provided by Network advisers such as Michael Wang (whose superb cutting-edge presentation on the psychological consequences of awareness was also delivered at the conference, and will be featured in future by this website), the Anaesthetic Awareness Network Uk & Ireland will maintain regular contact with the Symposium organisers and delegates, and bring you up-to-date insights into the progress being made in the area of memory and awareness under anaesthesia.