GIVING elderly patients certain general anaesthetics could increase their risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and other memory and attention problems.
The suggestion arises from recent test tube and animal experiments. They also indicate that anaesthetists need to log more carefully the combinations and doses of the anaesthetics they give to patients, to allow the risks to be properly assessed.
The link between surgery and cognitive problems was first noted during the 1950s, but it was never clear whether post-operative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) was the result of the surgery itself or the anaesthetics, says Pravat Mandal of the University of Pittsburgh…
