Effect of anesthesia depth on postoperative clinical outcome in patients with supratentorial tumor (DEPTH): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

INTRODUCTION: Recent studies have shown that deep anaesthesia is associated with poor outcomes. However, no randomised controlled trials have been conducted to test the causality in patients undergoing brain tumour resection. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: DEPTH is a multicenter, randomised, parallel-group, blind trial. The depth of general anaesthesia will be monitored using the bispectral index (BIS). Patients elected for supratentorial tumour resection will be randomly allocated to the deep or the light anaesthesia group in which the target BIS value is 35 or 50, respectively. BIS will be maintained at the target value for more than 90% of the total anaesthesia period. The primary outcome is the disability-free survival rate at postoperative 30 days and 1 year. The secondary outcomes are the mortality and morbidity within 30 days after surgery. ETHICS APPROVAL AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval has been granted by the Medical Ethics Committee of Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medicine University. The reference number is KY2016-059-02. The results of this study will be disseminated through presentations at scientific conferences and publication in scientific journals. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT03033693.