General Anesthesia Exposure In Infancy Causes Long-Term Memory Deficits

First time accepted submitter LordFlower (606949) writes "In a study, published today in Neuropsycopharmacology, exposure to general anesthesia in both human and rat infants was associated with long-term episodic memory deficits. Children aged 6 to 11 years exposed to general anesthesia during infancy had poorer episodic memory than age/gender matched controls. This deficit was replicated in rats using an analogous paradigm with full experimental control of pre-existing conditions could be exercised, suggesting a causal relation rather than correlational one. Prior research in rats suggests a mechanism of disrupted developmental synaptogenesis and apoptosis.

While a growing literature has demonstrated the presence of memory deficits and neurodegeneration in rats after general anesthesia exposure in infancy, this is the first to demonstrate a long-term deficit after exposure during human infancy. Given that each year 1.5 million infants undergo a surgery requiring general anesthesia, these findings are particularly alarming."

Selection bias

[Anonymous Coward]

This suffers from heavy selection bias. Children who require general anesthesia in infancy overwhelmingly suffer from congenital malformations which portend a higher rate of subclinical CNS developmental malfunction typically manifesting as mild developmental delay. (I'm a pediatric surgeon).

Re:Selection bias

[Anonymous Coward]

This is true. However, the complimentary data in rats, where pre-existing conditions were controlled, suggests that this is not the primary driver of these results in humans. Of course, there is a decently sized literature examining these effects in rats already; the dispute was whether it would be observed in humans. More research in humans is needed, of course, but I am sure you understand that experimental manipulation of anesthetic exposure in human infants is unethical. With more research money, I imagine researchers could find infants exposed to anesthesia during an MRI that was negative for problems. However, anytime you become more specific in your sampling requirements, the more it will cost. It needs to be done, but I cannot imagine that the funding would have been there to do this without these initial findings.

Re:I never felt right after tonsillectomy

[Prune]

Mod parent down for lack of reading comprehension. The study is on 6-11 year olds who were exposed to general anesthesia within their first year, not those who were exposed during their 6th to 11th year.