Anaesthesia and saccadic eye movements

During the last 10 years, there has been a vase increase in day-case surger y under general anaesthesia, but this has not been accompanied by research into the residual cognitive and motor effects during recovery from anaesthe sia. Part of the explanation for this phenomenon is the lack of a suitable biophysical monitor of anaesthetic sedation. This review discusses one of t he most commonly used of these biophysical monitors - namely saccadic eye m ovements. In particular, the efficacy of peak saccadic velocity as a monito r of sedation will be evaluated. In addition, the physiology and pharmacolo gy of saccadic eye movements will be discussed within the context of develo ping other parameters of saccadic eye movements as novel biophysical monito rs of anaesthetic sedation.