Entropy (anesthesiology)
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In anesthesiology, entropy is a neurophysiologic monitor of the patient's cerebral cortical function, designed to express the likelihood of consciousness, intraoperative awareness, or awareness with recall during a surgical procedure.
Other Vital signs such as pulse, heart rate, blood pressure, and movement are indirect indicators of consciousness, and when these are combined with expired gas analysis of inhalational anaesthetic agents, an experienced anaesthetist can be confident a patient is unconscious and not aware of their surroundings. However, the direct measurement of brain activity using a basic EEG is purported to measure effects of anaesthetics more comprehensively. This is because as anaesthesia "deepens", there are predictable changes in the EEG including slowing, synchronicity, and burst suppression, that, in the case of BIS (Bispectral index) or Entropy, are converted to a number expressing the likelihood of awareness.
Acknowledgement and Attribution Regarding Sources of Content
Some of the initial content on this page may be incorporated in part from copyleft sources in the public domain including wikis such as Wikipedia and AskDrWiki. Drug information for patients came from the The National Library of Medicine. Infectious disease information may have come from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Differential Diagnoses are drawn from clinicians as well as an amalgamation of 3 sources: 1.The Disease Database; 2. Kahan, Scott, Smith, Ellen G. In A Page: Signs and Symptoms. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2004:3; 3. Sailer, Christian, Wasner, Susanne. Differential Diagnosis Pocket. Hermosa Beach, CA: Borm Bruckmeir Publishing LLC, 2002:7 .
