Figure 7. Increased time spent in a non slow-wave state (NSWA) during emergence is correlated with a lower nociceptive state.

Patients had a variable duration of emergence from the time the anesthetic was turned off, ranging from 2 minutes to more than 10 minutes, as well as a variable dwell-time in the state of NSWA. When divided into 4 groups based on NSWA dwell-time, patients that spent more time in NSWA prior to emerging were more likely to have minimal pain (PACU-pain  = 0, Table 1). Of the group that spent>10 minutes in NSWA prior to wake-up, 90% had minimal pain. Of the group that spent less than a minute in NSWA prior to wake-up, 44% had minimal pain (p = 0.037, Chi-squared test).