[Failure to recover after anesthesia attributed to a transient dissociative state].

Failure of a patient to recover rapidly after anaesthesia is a rare event, due to various causes, including medication related effects, metabolic disturbances or neurologic insults. We report a case in a middle aged physically healthy woman who failed to recover promptly after intravenous anaesthesia. Propofol was administered for 20 minutes. Results of neurologic assessment were normal, as were laboratory tests and CT-scan. Four hours after completion of the anaesthesia, return to consciousness occurred spontaneously. The patient had a history of depressive symptoms. However the psychiatric assessment was unremarkable. We hypothesise that she developed a transient dissociative disorder.