Early Anesthesia May Lead to Learning Disability

Surgeons and anesthesiologists have long known that surgery and anesthesia may have negative effects on mental function, especially in older people. They call this condition post-operative cognitive decline.
It has not been clear whether surgery itself or the anesthesia is responsible for the problem, but inhaled anesthetics such as isoflurane or halothane have been linked to the accumulation of beta amyloid in the brain. A buildup of this compound is a marker for Alzheimer’s disease.
Now researchers are looking at the cognitive effects of anesthesia at the other end of the age spectrum. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic report that learning disabilities are twice as common in children exposed to more than one episode of general anesthesia before their second birthdays.
The practical implications of this research are unclear. The FDA holds that there is not adequate information to draw conclusions at this time. Moreover, the illnesses that led to early surgeries could also have been responsible for a higher risk of learning disabilities. But parents may need to be especially vigilant with children who needed multiple early surgeries, to make sure youngsters get the help they may need with special learning challenges.
[Pediatrics, Nov., 2011]