Surgery With Anesthesia May Prompt Memory Loss, Cognitive Decline
Patients undergoing surgery and anesthesia can experience memory decline long after the procedure, according to a study published by Swedish researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm and reported in UPI.
Lars I. Eriksson, professor of anesthesiology and intensive care at Karolinska Institutet, said post-operative cognitive decline is particularly common in the first week after surgery but can persist for up to three months in 10 percent of patients.
While researchers do not know the exact cause of cognitive decline after surgery, patient-related risk factors include age, morbidity and pre-existent cognitive impairments, according to the report. The study, published in the Annals of Neurology, found a side effect of surgery is damage to the blood brain barrier, which separates circulating blood and the brain extracellular fluid in the central nervous system.
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