Anesthesia and brain injury

It has long been known that there are dangers anytime a patient goes under anesthesia. However, the dangers of brain injury to patients in our Pennsylvania hospitals may be even more pronounced that previously imagined.

Past studies have shown a possible connection between undergoing general anesthesia and later facing the risks of Alzheimer’s disease. Recent studies have now shown that particular types of anesthesia are more associated with cognitive impairment than others.

This study showed that administration of the anesthesia called isoflurane impaired memory and learning in mice more adversely than use of other types of anesthesia. Patients that have received isoflurance have shown levels of brain dysfunction a week or more after the anesthesia was prescribed.

Though doctors will only have so many options concerning the types of anesthesia that can be used during certain types of procedures, in the best interest of their patients they do need to inform themselves the best they can about side effects of each anesthesia used. To not keep up on the most recent information would be in the mind of many patients and attorneys medical negligence.

Brain injuries due to use of anesthesia can be devastating. Such injuries can affect a person’s physical, mental and emotional being, and patients with such injuries may require fulltime and intensive care for the remainder of the life.

It’s for this reason that we see juries delivering multi-million dollar verdicts when patients have been injured during the administration of anesthesia. No amount of money would be worth the trauma such patients will be forced to undergo.

Source: Lab News, “Anesthetic Can Induce Alzheimer’s-like Changes in the Brain,” March 2, 2012