To elucidete the relationship between post-operative delirium sumptons and sleep disturbance using Actiwatch(Respironics(R)).

12 esophagal cancer patients (male 10,female2, age mean 65.4y.o. ± 6.31) without dementia were assessed using the Delirium-rating scale -Revised-98(DRS-R98)after esophageal transection on post operative day 2 and 6. Actiwatch was placed on the the wrist of the patient's nondominant hand and lef in place from post operative day 1 to 6. the correlation between the point of DRS-R98 and sleep timeof daytime (8 h–22 h) was analysed.

All the patients had delirium and DRS-R98 was 2–12(mean 5.75) on day2 and 1–5 (mean 2.33) on day 6. Sleep-wake cycle abnormalities was the most frequent and the other symptoms were inattention, perceptual disturbances and hallucinations, visuospacial disorder and lability of affect. the mean value of DRS-R98 of dey 2 and day 6 was significantly correlated with the mean sleep time of daytime from postoperative day1 to day6.

Severity of post-operative delirium was correlated with abnormal wakefulness.