Skip Navigation

Continuing Education in Anaesthesia, Critical Care & Pain 2006 6(1):37-40; doi:10.1093/bjaceaccp/mki066
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Fines, D. P
Right arrow Articles by Severn, A. M
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Fines, D. P
Right arrow Articles by Severn, A. M
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?


Continuing Education in Anaesthesia, Critical Care & Pain | Volume 6 Number 1 2006 © The Board of Management and Trustees of the British Journal of Anaesthesia [2006]. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Anaesthesia and cognitive disturbance in the elderly

Daniel P Fines, Consultant
Department of Anaesthesia, Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, Hospital Road, Pendlebury, Manchester M27 4HA

Andrew M Severn, Consultant
Department of Anaesthesia, Royal Lancaster Infirmary, Ashton Road, Lancaster LA1 4RP
Tel: 01524 583528 Fax: 01524 583519 E-mail: asevern@ageanaesthesia.demon.co.uk (for correspondence)

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.


Key points

Perioperative delirium and longer term cognitive disturbance are common and disabling consequences of anaesthesia and surgery in the elderly.

Evidence is emerging that the risk of postoperative delirium can be predicted by preoperative screening of otherwise asymptomatic patients.

The risk of prolonged postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) is ~10% following major surgery in patients of more than 60 yr of age. Increasing age is a risk factor and the incidence in patients of more than 80 yr of age may be as high as one in three.

Regional anaesthesia reduces the risk of cognitive impairment in the immediate postoperative period but appears to have no effect on the incidence of prolonged POCD.

The risks of cognitive decline should always be considered and discussed when major surgery is contemplated in elderly patients.

 

Decline in cognitive functioning after surgery, particularly in the elderly, has been anecdotally appreciated by the profession and . . . [Full Text of this Article]


   Delirium
 

   Dementia
 
Anaesthetic assessment


   Postoperative cognitive dysfunction
 
Possible causes of POCD

Emboli

Perioperative physiological disturbances

Pre-existing cognitive impairment

Other factors


   Anaesthetic technique and postoperative cognitive impairment
 
Premedication

Conduct of anaesthesia


   Future developments
 

Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?