ON THE COVER:
New techniques in functional brain imaging are adding to our understanding of the mechanisms by which general anesthetics produce loss of consciousness. In this issue of Anesthesiology, three original research articles suggest common themes across a variety of states (sleep, anesthesia), anesthetics (sevoflurane, propofol, ketamine), and species (rats and humans): a loss of the functional connectivity among specific regions of the brain. Three accompanying Editorial Views place these new findings in the broader context of our evolving understanding of the mechanisms of general anesthetics.
Pal et al.: Neural Correlates of Wakefulness, Sleep, and General Anesthesia: An Experimental Study in Rat, p. 929
Bonhomme et al.: Resting-state Network-specific Breakdown of Functional Connectivity during Ketamine Alteration of Consciousness in Volunteers, p. 873
Ranft et al.: Neural Correlates of Sevoflurane-induced Unconsciousness Identified by Simultaneous Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Electroencephalography, p. 861
Sleigh: Another Brick in (Some Kind of) Wall, p. 827
Mashour: Network-level Mechanisms of Ketamine Anesthesia, p. 830
Hudson and Pryor: Integration and Information: Anesthesia Unconsciousness Finds a New Bandwidth, p. 832