Patients commonly report that they have been dreaming when they emerge from anaesthesia. Data from observational studies and small randomised trials suggests that reports of dreaming are more commonly made after anaesthesia maintained with propofol than anaesthesia maintained with inhaled anaesthetic agents. We propose to randomise 300 healthy patients to receive a standardised general anaesthetic for surgery that includes either propofol or desflurane for maintenance. We will measure the raw and processed electroencephalogram during and after anaesthesia and interview patients about dreaming as soon as they emerge from anaesthesia.
We hypothesise that patients who receive propofol for maintenance of anaesthesia will report dreaming more often when they emerge from anaesthesia than patients who receive desflurane for maintenance of anaesthesia.