Newswise — Anesthesia makes it possible for infants and children to undergo medical procedures and surgeries that save or improve the quality of their lives. Some children must receive anesthesia multiple times while very young. While anesthesia is an essential tool, it may also disrupt the developing brain, leading to later cognitive and behavioral issues.
Accumulating evidence from in vitro, animal and human clinical trials suggests that anesthesia can harm children’s brains and neurological development. But because of varying study designs, no consensus yet exists on the level of anesthesia exposure risk that could translate into practical guidance for clinicians on how to balance its risks against its benefits. Faculty Researcher Matthew Borzage, PhD , and Bradley Peterson, MD , Director of the Brain Imaging Lab at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, reviewed the existing preclinical evidence to relate the findings to recent clinical, real-world trials in humans.
“The effects of multiple exposures to anesthetics evaluated by in vitro or behavioral studies is only beginning to be understood,” says Dr. Borzage, co-author of the 131-study scoping review. “We all want to know how anesthesia impacts the developing brain.
We decided the best way to find out was a thorough review of the existing research studies—from cells and animals to humans.” Deciphering different studies The researchers used a modified Patient Intervention, Comparison, Outcome (PICO) framework .
