The working group, which consists of more than 40 world experts in anesthesia, neurology, psychiatry, gerontology and neuropsychiatry, identified a need for a formal classification and consistency due to increasing numbers of older adults undergoing anesthesia and surgery.
Anesthesia & Analgesia and five other international specialty journals published the new terminology.
Here are the updated terms and definitions:
1. Perioperative neurocognitive disorders: Cognitive impairment identified either before or after surgery
2. Pre-existing cognitive impairment: Patients with subtle but measurable cognitive impairment before surgery
3. Postoperative delirium: Anesthesia and surgery as a “potential precipitating cause” of delirium up to one week after surgery, or while the patient remains hospitalized
4. Delayed neurocognitive recovery: Cognitive decline diagnosed up to 30 days after surgery
5. Postoperative neurocognitive disorder: Cognitive decline that is still present up to 12 months after surgery
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