Anne F Gross1, Theodore A Stern2. 1. Department of Psychiatry, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR. Electronic address: gross@ohsu.edu. 2. Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Although anesthetics have been used for more than a century, their mechanisms of action remain poorly understood. Given that a number of intraoperative and postoperative neuropsychiatric syndromes have been linked to the use of anesthetics, practitioners should familiarize themselves with these conditions. METHODS: Basic concepts about anesthesia are reviewed and neuropsychiatric syndromes associated with anesthesia exposure described. CONCLUSIONS: Emergence delirium, postoperative delirium, postoperative cognitive dysfunction, and intraoperative awareness can develop in association with use of inhalation anesthetics and intravenously administered anesthetics.
BACKGROUND: Although anesthetics have been used for more than a century, their mechanisms of action remain poorly understood. Given that a number of intraoperative and postoperative neuropsychiatric syndromes have been linked to the use of anesthetics, practitioners should familiarize themselves with these conditions. METHODS: Basic concepts about anesthesia are reviewed and neuropsychiatric syndromes associated with anesthesia exposure described. CONCLUSIONS: Emergence delirium, postoperative delirium, postoperative cognitive dysfunction, and intraoperative awareness can develop in association with use of inhalation anesthetics and intravenously administered anesthetics.