Overcoming the 300-kilometer distance barrier, the smallest anesthesia brainwave monitor on the market has successfully transmitted patients brainwave data from Taitung to Taipei, marking a significant milestone in the application of smart healthcare in remote areas. In the field of anesthesiology, the occurrence of patients waking up during surgery is a serious complication associated with insufficient anesthesia depth. To clarify, if the anesthesia depth is too shallow, patients may awaken during the procedure, whereas if it’s excessively deep, it could potentially lead to cognitive impairment. Currently, anesthesiologists mostly rely on brainwave monitors to monitor anesthesia depth. However, the clinical use of brainwave monitors, whether in terms of size or weight, is still relatively bulky, and the accuracy of brainwave analysis needs improvement.
the Attending Physician of Anesthesiology at Taitung Mackay Memorial Hospital. He used the wearable brainwave monitor, which was created in Taiwan, in his latest research to analyze patients’ brain responses to external stimuli under anesthesia. He discovered that when the brain receives pain stimuli under anesthesia, not only do specific brainwave frequencies change; but there are also specific alterations in the phase-amplitude coupling between different brainwave frequencies. Phase amplitude coupling refers to a regular relationship between the fluctuation cycle of specific brainwave frequencies and the amplitude strength of another brainwave frequency. This relationship is generally considered to represent communication between different brain regions. This study, with its innovative approach describes how communication between brain regions during anesthesia can undergo specific changes in response to pain stimuli, offering future directions for the safety and precision of anesthesia monitoring. The research will be published soon in the well-known international journal “Anesthesia and Analgesia”.
It’s also worth noting that all the brainwave data for this research was collected at Taitung Mackay Memorial Hospital and then transmitted to NYCU through remote connections, which is at the distance of more than 300 kilometers. This wearable brainwave monitor weighs only 7 grams, making it lighter than any other anesthesia brainwave monitor on the market. It was developed collaboratively by Professor Terry B.J. Kuo, currently a distinguished professor at CaoTun Mental Hospital, along with Dr. Cheng-Han Wu and Ph.D. student Wei-Yi Lee from the Institute of Brain Science at NYCU, incorporating the latest algorithm from academician Norden E. Huang.
Tzu-Chun Wang explained that this compact brainwave analysis system would not interfere with the surgical process during brainwave data collection; instead, it can gather comprehensive data in complex surgical environments. Cheryl C.H. Yang from NYCU, who participated in this research, also stated that this study verified the feasibility of introducing advanced medical technology into relatively rural medical environment, providing valuable insights for the promotion of other innovative medical technologies.