Monitoring the effect of sedative drugs, used to anesthetize people during surgery, is complex. Technological advances that focus on brain activity (electroencephalogram, EEG) recently yielded promising parameters, such as the bispectral index (BIS). BIS is a scale from 100 (awake) to 0 (complete cortical EEG suppression), and values between 45 and 60 are recommended for surgical anesthesia. Compared to standard practice, the use of BIS speeds emergence and early recovery from anesthesia while reducing anesthetic drug use. Little is known about the long-term effects of BIS monitoring but it is not unlikely that early improvements in clinical outcome persist over time. Studies have associated first-year postoperative mortality to prolonged periods of too deep surgical anesthesia, as defined by BIS levels below 45. BIS monitoring could thus serve an important function in enhancing patient management and care. Prospective, randomized controlled clinical trials of BIS monitoring and its long-term effects are lacking, however.