R.D. Sanders, A. Gaskell, J. Sleigh

 In this issue of the British Journal of Anaesthesia, Linassi and colleagues¹ have extensively reviewed and conducted a meta-analysis of the literature on the isolated forearm technique (IFT). We have great interest in this topic but avoided meta-analysis in our earlier work because of concerns over the heterogeneity in anaesthesia techniques that perhaps do not reflect routine practice.² Nonetheless, amongst other interesting observations, provocative messages are provided that frontal EEG monitoring (referred to as anaesthesia brain monitoring, ABM) and i.v.