The Electroencephalographic Mechanisms of Anesthesia and Human Consciousness

NCT ID: NCT07145697

Last Updated: 2025-08-28

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: PHASE4
• Total Enrollment: 30 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2025-04-10
• Study Completion Date: 2027-06-30

Brief Summary

In the field of general anesthesia research, the neural mechanism underlying the loss of consciousness has long been a highly core issue. It remains unclear what consciousness is and how it emerges from brain activity. By studying anesthesia and sleep, the investigators aim to reveal what happens in the brain when consciousness is lost and when it returns.

Dexmedetomidine, a widely used drug in clinical anesthetic practice, plays an important role in the anesthetic process due to its unique pharmacological properties. It hardly causes respiratory depression during the sedative and hypnotic process, which makes it occupy an important position in clinical anesthetic regimens.

The emergence of stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG) technology has brought new opportunities for research on anesthesia mechanisms. Compared with traditional electroencephalographic (EEG), SEEG can directly penetrate into deep brain structures to record electrical activities, enabling precise localization of brain regions closely related to consciousness regulation.

At present, although there have been some studies on the effects of dexmedetomidine on EEG activities, there are still many deficiencies. Most studies have focused on simple spectral analysis of EEG signals or observations of limited brain regions, lacking comprehensive multi-dimensional research on functional connectivity between brain regions, microstates, and complexity. Through monitoring key brain regions, the SEEG technology can obtain more targeted and accurate information, thereby providing strong support for comprehensively revealing the neural mechanisms of dexmedetomidine-induced loss of consciousness.

Conditions

Consciousness, Level Altered

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Sleep

Recordering electroencephalograms during nighttime natural sleep.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Dexmedetomidine

Escalating concentrations until loss of responsiveness

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Dexmedetomidine

Intervention Type: DRUG

Escalating concentrations until loss of responsiveness

Interventions

Dexmedetomidine

Escalating concentrations until loss of responsiveness

Intervention Type: DRUG

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

1. Age range: 1 - 65 years old

2. BMI: 18.5 - 25.0 kg/m²

3. ASA physical status classification: I - III

4. Patients diagnosed with drug - refractory epilepsy who, after long - term monitoring of epileptic seizures, require stereo-electroencephalography (SEEG) electrode implantation based on the clinical need for monitoring their epilepsy.

5. Patients voluntarily participate in this study and sign a written informed consent form.

Exclusion Criteria

1. Patients with severe arrhythmia or other organic heart diseases;

2. Patients with comorbid obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS);

3. Patients with hepatic or renal dysfunction; those with a history of immunodeficiency diseases , or a history of cancer/malignant tumors, or a history of autoimmune diseases, or severe cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, or other diseases that may significantly reduce life expectancy;

4. Patients with any history of diseases that may affect protocol compliance (such as severe mental disorders, disturbance of consciousness; cognitive dysfunction, drug abuse or addiction, etc.);

5. Pregnant or lactating women, or those of childbearing potential who are unwilling/unable to take effective contraceptive measures;

6. Patients with known allergies to the ingredients contained in the drugs used in this study;

7. Patients who have participated in any drug clinical trial within 6 months before the screening examination;

8. Patients who are deemed unsuitable to participate in this study by the researcher.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 3 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 65 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Guangzhou General Hospital of Guangzhou Military Command

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

bo xu

Clinical Professor

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

General hospital of southern theater command, PLA

Guangzhou, Guangdong, China

Site Status: RECRUITING

Countries

China

Facility Contacts

Jing He

Role: primary

hejing0096@163.com

88653504

Other Identifiers

Mechanisms of Consciousness

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id