An observational study in Perioperative/Postoperative Complications, Postoperative Cognitive Dysfunction and Postoperative Delirium, sponsored by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 60 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-30.
Sponsored by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center · Observational
The goal of this observational study is to learn the how to determine the mean arterial pressure(MAP) or blood pressure level to be maintained during non-cardiac surgery for optimal brain health in patients above the age of 60 undergoing major non-cardiac surgery. The main question[s] it aims to answer are:
Participants will be asked to:
Study Procedures:
Pre-operative:
Intra-operative:
Live collection and processing of data: During surgery, the SedLine Root Monitor (which collects EEG \& CO data) and the Operating Room's en-suite Phillips Intellivue monitor (which collects MAP data during surgery) will both be connected to a BIDMC-issued, IS-approved laptop or tablet running the ICM+ software suite. The SedLine Root Monitor and Philips Intellivue Monitor will output their data locally via cables to the system running the ICM+ software suite, which will process and integrate this data in real-time. This processed information will only be collected passively during the surgery, and will not inform or affect clinical care in any way.
The SedLine EEG electrode array records approximately at positions Fp1, Fp2, F7, and F8, with reference approximately 1 cm above Fpz and ground at Fpz. The spectrograms will be computed using the Multitaper method from the unprocessed EEG signals recorded at a sampling frequency of 250 Hz. Individual spectra will be computed in 3-sec windows with 0.5 sec overlap between adjacent windows. Multitaper spectral estimates have near optimal statistical properties that substantially improve the clarity of spectral features.
The CO sensors are applied on the forehead.
Patient State Index (PSi)31,32 The PSi is a processed EEG parameter that is related to the effect of anesthetic agents, and takes into consideration, among other factors:
Density Spectral Array (DSA)31,32 The DSA contains left and right spectrograms representing the power of the EEG on both sides of the brain.
Multitaper DSA32 When using a Multitaper DSA, EEG data are transformed into the frequency domain, which may provide a better display of EEG features.
Postoperative pain assessment
Postoperative pain will be assessed with a standard 11-point scale and by pain medication intake. Pain scores will be obtained by asking the subject and also collected from the medical record when documented clinically. Pain medication intake will be extracted from the medical record.
Delirium and cognition assessment Once consent is obtained, a trained research team member will proceed with baseline preoperative and postoperative cognitive, delirium, and depression assessments.
Baseline assessment
This will be conducted by study staff at the time of consent. If the patient cannot complete baseline assessment at time of consent, it may be conducted at a later time before surgery as per the patient's convenience on hospital premises. This will include the assessment of cognitive function using the:
These detailed assessments will take no more than 45 minutes. If this baseline assessment shows a MoCA score \<10, the subject will be excluded from the study.
Postoperative assessment On each postoperative day during the hospital stay a research team member will administer a
Remote assessments After the patient consents to participate in the study and opts in for phone call assessments, the study team may use the t-MoCA as a substitute to the MoCA for remote assessment of baseline cognition. Additionally, for in-hospital assessments, study investigators may use the a-MoCA as a substitute to the MoCA if an inability for in-person visits arises. Sites may conduct substitution assessments via phone or site-specific HIPAA approved telemedicine video conferencing platform. The a-MoCA and the t-MoCA are identical assessments but differ in naming, where the term "a-MoCA" is used for in-person assessments, and the term "t-MoCA" is used for assessments conducted via phone. Both assessments exclude the visuoconstructional tests of alternating trails, drawing of cube and clock, and animal naming.
Discharge assessment On the day of discharge, the MoCA, with DOW and MOY, the CAM, and the DSI will be completed. (If the discharge assessment was performed in anticipation of discharge on a specific day but the discharge was delayed (i.e., logistical reasons, clinical reasons), this will not be considered a protocol deviation.) If the patient is discharged before a discharge assessment can be done, study staff may contact patient to administer t-MoCA along with DOW and MOY, CAM and DSI.
Follow-up assessment Follow-up assessments will be administered at 1 month (+14 days /- 7 days) and 6 months (+/- 30 days) after the date of surgery. These will be completed by a research team member via telephone and will include a telephone version of the MoCA (t-MoCA), with DOW and MOY, the CAM, SF-12, FRAIL scale, functional activity scale, and long term pain scale and the DSI. These assessments will be done at the patient's convenience and ability to finish the evaluations.
Patient related information such as baseline characteristics including, comorbid conditions, medications, surgical and anesthetic data will be obtained from Society of Thoracic Surgery database, Anesthesia Information Management Systems and patient's medical record. EEG changes, waveforms and other related data will be recorded from the monitor. Additionally, to track other important factors related to outcome and protocol adherence, study investigators may extract clinical data from the medical record including, but not limited to:
Patients above the age of 60 scheduled to undergo major non-cardiac surgeries including but not limited to vascular, hepatobiliary, or complex spine surgeries requiring general anesthesia with arterial catheterization for monitoring.
Exclusion Criteria:
Patients above the age of 60 undergoing major non-cardiac surgery requiring invasive MAP monitoring as standard of care. They will be monitored intra-op using non-invasive EEG and CO monitors, which will be correlated with MAP. They will also undergo baseline and followup assessment for post-operative delirium using the standardised CAM and MoCA tools administered by study staff.
Diagnostic Test: Intra-op EEG and CO data collection
Intra-op EEG and CO data will be collected non-invasively. This will not guide or affect patient care of procedure in any way.
Also known as: Massimo SEDLINE Root Monitor
CA state and lower limits of autoregulation (LLA):
The primary outcome will be reliability in the form of an "uptime". This is a calculation of the percentage that each signal provides a feasible measurement, and a percentage that each method of autoregulation calculation produces an output. Previous studies have demonstrated a high frequency of uptime, upwards of 90%. CA state and lower limits of autoregulation (LLA) will be calculated using two distinct methods, both previously published and enumerated in the Statistical Consideration section
Time frame: 1 week
Duration of burst suppression in EEG
Determine the length of burst suppression on EEG monitoring for each patient. Burst suppression is defined as a period of isoelectric activity in the EEG waveforms.
Time frame: 1 week
Incidence of Postoperative Delirium (POD)
POD will be diagnosed by our trained research members based on the Confusion Assessment Method (CAM) algorithm postoperatively until discharge.
Time frame: Within 1 week
Cognitive function
Postoperative cognitive dysfunction at 1- and 6- months will be assessed with telephone version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (t-MoCA) with a maximum positive score of 22. The higher the score, the better the patient's cognitive function.
Time frame: 1 month and 6 months
Hemodynamic stability - Vasopressor Usage
Metrics of total vasopressor dose in norepinephrine equivalents
Time frame: 1 week
Hemodynamic stability - Time outside ideal systolic range
Time above/ below 90-130 mmHg systolic blood pressure in minutes
Time frame: 1 week
Hemodynamic stability - Area Under Curve
Area under the 65 mmHg mean arterial blood pressure curve in units of mmHg minutes
Time frame: 1 week
Hemodynamic stability - Coefficient of Variation recorded as a simple integer
Coefficient of variation of mean arterial blood pressure will be collected from the intraoperative record and medical records to be quantified and compared.
Time frame: 1 week
Plan to share: No
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