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Anesthesia and cognitive impairment

Guest Editors:
Sarah Saxena: AZ Sint-Jan Brugge Oostende AV, Belgium
Gaetano Scaramuzzo: Department of Translational Medicine, University of Ferrara & Department of Emergency, Arcispedale Sant’AnnaItaly



Perioperative neurocognitive disorder (PND) is a major life-challenging complication in the perioperative period and its incidence ranges from 15% to 50%. Considering that older age is a risk factor for PND and that the global proportion of people aged 60 and above will increase from 12% in 2015 to 22% in 2050, its incidence will probably further increase. While physicians seem to be more and more aware about this condition, PNDs still are often misdiagnosed and remain a challenge for anesthesiologists and surgical staff.

Nevertheless, the raised recognition of PND's role is challenging the current clinical practice, with an increased attention to preoperative conditions of frailty and to intraoperative anesthesia monitoring, using for example processed EEG signal, to avoid both conditions of intraoperative over (toxicity) or under (awareness) treatment.

In order to recognize the anesthesiologists’ efforts to improve management of PND in recent years, we have published a BMC Anesthesiology collection called “Anesthesia and cognitive impairment”.

Meet the Guest Editors

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Sarah Saxena: AZ Sint-Jan Brugge Oostende AV, Belgium

Sarah Saxena is a dynamic, young anesthesiologist associated with the Université Libre de Bruxelles, who recently joined the department of Anesthesiology, AZ Sint-Jan Brugge - Oostende AV, Bruges, Belgium. She is highly active in perioperative neurocognitive research, a subject she recently presented her PHD thesis in. Sarah has a particular interest in investigating preventative and therapeutic strategies in order to mitigate perioperative neurocognitive disorders. On a personal level, Sarah is actively involved in improving equity, diversity and inclusion in anesthesiology.

Gaetano Scaramuzzo: Department of Translational Medicine, University of Ferrara & Department of Emergency, Arcispedale Sant’AnnaItaly

Dr. Gaetano Scaramuzzo is a consultant intensivist and anesthesiologist for the Arcispedale Sant’Anna (Ferrara) and a research assistant for the University of Ferrara. His main interests are intraoperative advanced monitoring, lung pathophysiology and medical imaging. His work is mainly focused on personalized approaches to critically ill and anesthesia patients, innovative technologies for diagnosis and monitoring and acute respiratory failure mechanisms. He is associate editor of BMC Anesthesiology and BMC Pulmonary medicine and part of the NEXT committee of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine.

About the collection

Perioperative neurocognitive disorder (PND) is a major life-challenging complication in the perioperative period and its incidence ranges from 15% to 50%. Considering that older age is a risk factor for PND and that the global proportion of people aged 60 and above will increase from 12% in 2015 to 22% in 2050, its incidence will probably further increase. While physicians seem to be more and more aware about this condition, PNDs still are often misdiagnosed and remain a challenge for anesthesiologists and surgical staff.

Nevertheless, the raised recognition of PND's role is challenging the current clinical practice, with an increased attention to preoperative conditions of frailty and to intraoperative anesthesia monitoring, using for example processed EEG signal, to avoid both conditions of intraoperative over (toxicity) or under (awareness) treatment.

In order to recognize the anesthesiologists’ efforts to improve management of PND in recent years, we have published a BMC Anesthesiology collection called “Anesthesia and cognitive impairment”.

This collection comprises submissions from all aspects of this developing field including, but not limited to:

•    Identifying risk factors for PND
•    Strategies to mitigate PND development
•    Optimising anesthesia  or postoperative care plan
•    Use of EEG signal to prevent or predict PND
•    Pathogenesis of PND

Image credit: © LIGHTFIELD STUDIOS / stock.adobe.com

  1. Over the last two decades, a large body of literature has focused on studying the prevalence and outcome of the postoperative delirium and sleep disturbance. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of ...

    Authors: Wael Fathy, Mona Hussein, Rehab Elanwar, Hatem Elmoutaz, Donya A Abdelsadek and Dina Y Kassim
    Citation: BMC Anesthesiology 2024 24:289
  2. Emergence agitation is a transient confusional state of a child associated with consciousness from general anaesthesia, commonly occurs in the postoperative setting which delays their recovery and exposes them...

    Authors: Habtamu Tilahun Aniley, Samrawit Tassew Mekuria, Mebratu Abraha Kebede, Alembrhan Hagos Gebreanania, Mahteme Bekele Muleta and Tafere Tilahun Aniley
    Citation: BMC Anesthesiology 2024 24:236
  3. Perioperative Neurocognitive Disorders (PND) is a common neurological complication after radical colorectal cancer surgery, which increases adverse outcomes. So, our objective is to explore the influence of de...

    Authors: Li Yang, RongFei Xiong, XingQu Chen, Shu Wang and DeShui Yu
    Citation: BMC Anesthesiology 2024 24:186
  4. Dyclonine hydrochloride mucilage is a topical anaesthetic formulated for mucosal surfaces. It is employed frequently for topical anaesthesia of the pharynx prior to endoscopic examinations such as electronic g...

    Authors: Li Wang, Qi-Hui Wen, Li-Juan Wen, Jia-Min Qin, Chun-Mei Ren and Li-Ming Wen
    Citation: BMC Anesthesiology 2024 24:34
  5. Postoperative delirium (POD) is considered the most common postoperative neurological complication in elderly patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of the administration of ketofol versu...

    Authors: Shereen E. Abd Ellatif, Sherif M. S. Mowafy and Mona A. Shahin
    Citation: BMC Anesthesiology 2024 24:1
  6. We aimed to evaluate whether a single dose of ketamine or dexmedetomidine before induction of general anesthesia could reduce the incidence of postoperative delirium (primary outcome) or cognitive dysfunction ...

    Authors: Huda F. Ghazaly, Tarek S. Hemaida, Zaher Z. Zaher, Omar M. Elkhodary and Soudy S. Hammad
    Citation: BMC Anesthesiology 2023 23:407
  7. Neuroinflammation may be a potential mechanism of postoperative delirium (POD) in geriatric patients, and hypertonic saline (HS) has immunomodulatory properties. The purpose of this study was to investigate wh...

    Authors: Fang Xu, Yanan Li, Xupeng Wang, Ran Sun, Zilei Zheng, Qi Zhang, Mingyang Gao, Wei Tao, Juan Zhao and Qiujun Wang
    Citation: BMC Anesthesiology 2023 23:405
  8. The latest clinical trials have reported conflicting outcomes regarding the effectiveness of xenon anesthesia in preventing postoperative neurocognitive dysfunction; thus, this study assessed the existing evid...

    Authors: Yu-Shen Yang, Shan-Hu Wu, Wei-Can Chen, Meng-Qin Pei, Yi-Bin Liu, Chu-Yun Liu, Shu Lin and He-Fan He
    Citation: BMC Anesthesiology 2023 23:366
  9. Based on electroencephalogram (EEG) analysis, index of consciousness (IoC) monitoring is a new technique for monitoring anesthesia depth. IoC is divided into IoC1 (depth of sedation) and IoC2 (depth of analgesia)...

    Authors: Fengling Qi, Long Fan, Chunxiu Wang, Yang Liu, Shuyi Yang, Zhen Fan, Fangfang Miao, Minhui Kan, Kunpeng Feng and Tianlong Wang
    Citation: BMC Anesthesiology 2023 23:331
  10. Postoperative delirium (POD) is a common complication in the elderly, which is associated with poor outcomes after surgery. Recognized as predisposing factors for POD, anesthetic exposure and burst suppression...

    Authors: Yi-Chen Chen, I-Yin Hung, Kuo-Chuan Hung, Ying-Jen Chang, Chin-Chen Chu, Jen-Yin Chen, Chung-Han Ho and Chia-Hung Yu
    Citation: BMC Anesthesiology 2023 23:330
  11. Postoperative delirium (POD) is an acute form of brain dysfunction that can result in serious adverse consequences. There has been a link between cognitive dysfunction and poor sleep. The present study aimed t...

    Authors: Jinwei Zheng, Lulu Wang, Wei Wang, Huafeng Zhang, Fangfang Yao, Junping Chen and Qingxiu Wang
    Citation: BMC Anesthesiology 2023 23:306
  12. Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) has been reported as a significant complication in elderly patients. Various methods have been proposed for reducing the incidence and severity of POCD. Intravenous l...

    Authors: Chuan Geng, Baoji Hu, Jihong Jiang, Yunhe Zhang, Weiqing Tang, Mengzhi Pan, Leilei Sun, Peifen Chen and Hengyue Wang
    Citation: BMC Anesthesiology 2023 23:299
  13. Decline in olfaction may occur after general anesthesia, but the exact incidence and underlying physiopathology remain scarcely investigated. Olfactory dysfunction arises with aging and is known to be linked t...

    Authors: Victoria Van Regemorter, Richard Coulie, Jordi Dollase, Mona Momeni, Alexandre Stouffs, Lisa Quenon, André Mouraux and Caroline Huart
    Citation: BMC Anesthesiology 2023 23:295
  14. It is believed that negative postoperative behavioral changes (NPOBC) is associated with negative perioperative outcomes in children. The importance of development of a predictive model of NPOBC was noted. Thi...

    Authors: Lijing Li, Jianmin Zhang, Jiayi Li, Yi Ren, Zhengzheng Gao, Jia Gao, Fuzhou Zhang, Fang Wang and Tiehua Zheng
    Citation: BMC Anesthesiology 2023 23:261
  15. Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) is a common postoperative disorder that is frequently observed after general anesthesia, which seriously threatens the quality of patients’ life. Existing studies hav...

    Authors: Junxia Zhang, Danting Jia, Wenbin Li, Xiaohui Li, Qian Ma and Xuexin Chen
    Citation: BMC Anesthesiology 2023 23:214
  16. Potassium channels (KCa3.1; Kv1.3; Kir2.1) are necessary for microglial activation, a pivotal requirement for the development of Perioperative Neurocognitive Disorders (PNDs). We previously reported on the rol...

    Authors: Sarah Saxena, Vincent Nuyens, Christopher Rodts, Kristina Jamar, Adelin Albert, Laurence Seidel, Mustapha Cherkaoui-Malki, Jean G. Boogaerts, Heike Wulff, Mervyn Maze, Véronique Kruys and Joseph Vamecq
    Citation: BMC Anesthesiology 2023 23:80