Depth of anaesthesia monitors – Bispectral Index (BIS), E-Entropy and Narcotrend-Compact M

NICE has assessed 3 electroencephalography (EEG)-based depth of anaesthesia monitors – Bispectral Index (BIS), E-Entropy and Narcotrend-Compact M – to help the NHS decide whether to use these products.

These monitors are used alongside clinical monitoring to assess a patient’s response to anaesthetic drugs during surgery. The aim is to help the anaesthetist tailor the dose of anaesthetic used to the individual patient. This is important because too little anaesthetic can mean a patient is aware of what is happening during surgery. On the other hand, too much anaesthetic can result in a patient taking longer to recover from surgery.

NICE has said that the BIS monitor is an option during any type of surgery in patients at higher risk of awareness during surgery or at higher risk of excessively deep anaesthesia, and in all patients receiving total intravenous anaesthesia. There is more uncertainty about the clinical benefits of the E-Entropy and Narcotrend-Compact M monitors than the BIS monitor. But NICE has said that the monitors are all broadly equivalent, so E-Entropy and Narcotrend-compact M monitors are also recommended as options.