Memory Loss, Alzheimer’s Disease and General Anesthesia: A Preoperative Concern

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Adam Thaler, University of Pennsylvania; Read Siry, University of Pennsylvania; Lufan Cai, University of Pennsylvania; Paul Garcia, Emory University; Linda Chen, University of Pennsylvania; RenYu Liu, University of Pennsylvania
• Language: English
• Date: 2012-02-01
• Publisher: OMICS International
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2012 Thaler A et al.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2155-6148.1000192
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Journal of Anesthesia and Clinical Research
• ISSN: 2155-6148
• Volume: 3
• Issue: 2
• Grant/Funding Information: This work is supported by departmental funding from the department of anesthesiology and Critical Care at University of Pennsylvania, funding from Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research (Rochester, MN; PI:RL), and support from NIH K08-GM-093115- 01(PI:RL).
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Medicine and Surgery; Health Sciences, General

Abstract

Background: The long-term cognitive effects of general anesthesia are under intense scrutiny. Here we present 5 cases from 2 academic institutions to analyze some common features where the patient's or the patient family member has made a request to address their concern on memory loss, Alzheimer's disease and general anesthesia before surgery. Methods: Records of anesthesia consultation separate from standard preoperative evaluation were retrieved to identify consultations related to memory loss and Alzheimer's disease from the patient and/or patient family members. The identified cases were extensively reviewed for features in common. We used Google® (http://www. google.com/) to identify available online information using "anesthesia memory loss" as a search phrase. Results: Five cases were collected as a specific preoperative consultation related to memory loss, Alzheimer's disease and general anesthesia from two institutions. All of the individuals either had perceived memory impairment after a prior surgical procedure with general anesthesia or had a family member with Alzheimer's disease. They all accessed public media sources to find articles related to anesthesia and memory loss. On May 2nd, 2011, searching "anesthesia memory loss" in Google yielded 764,000 hits. Only 3 of the 50 Google top hits were from peer-reviewed journals. Some of the lay media postings made a causal association between general anesthesia and memory loss and/or Alzheimer's disease without conclusive scientific literature support. Conclusion: The potential link between memory loss and Alzheimer's disease with general anesthesia is an important preoperative concern from patients and their family members. This concern arises from individuals who have had history of cognitive impairment or have had a family member with Alzheimer disease and have tried to obtain information from public media. Proper preoperative consultation with the awareness of the lay literature can be useful in reducing patient and patient family member's preoperative anxiety related to this concern.