General anesthesia is not always easy for an elderly person. But according to a new study presented at the congress of the European Society of Anesthesiology in Barcelona, this act would also be a risk factor for the development of dementia, even several years later.
Professor François Sztark, researcher Catherine Helmer from the Bordeaux Institute of Public Health, Epidemiology and Development and other scientists based themselves on data from the Three Cities study (Bordeaux, Dijon, Montpellier), carried out on more than 9,000 people aged 65 and over.
The link between general anesthesia and dementia is still difficult to prove, but researchers advise establishing long-term follow-up for older people after surgery. Concretely: favor local anesthesia, less risky, and optimize the monitoring of fragile patients.
