I have always felt that it is beneficial and anxiety reducing to help parents understand what may have caused or contributed to their child’s ADD / ADHD or learning disability. I have seen many times how this information helps parents to stop blaming themselves for the child’s neuro-physiologic disorder. Additionally, this information can reduce their anxiety about the unknown and the future.
For many years I have communicated to the parents of patients that my own personal belief, based on treating thousands of patients, is that exposure to prolonged anesthesia at an early age, may be toxic to a young child’s developing brain and lead to developmental disorders. My belief was based on clinical experience and medical intuition.Now, at the annual meeting of the International Anesthesia Society in Vancouver, B.C., reported by Yahoo-Medical and News-Medical.Net, new research data suggests that infants and young children may experience higher rates of cognitive difficulties and learning disabilities if they are exposed to anesthesia. This is another example of how research can validate clinical discovery or observation.
Randall Flick, M.D., of the Mayo Clinic, reported at the conference on their findings that “multiple exposures to anesthesia before the age of two are a significant risk factor for the development of ADHD.” The age of the child at the time of exposure, the duration of the exposure, and the number of anesthetics were all key factors. He stated that a single exposure did not seem to have an effect. I would disagree and think that a single exposure for an extended duration could have an effect. Children under four years old, who were under anesthesia for two or more hours, had at least two times a higher risk.The practice of Medicine always has to weigh “risk vs. benefit” with any treatment procedure. Postponing necessary surgery could cause children more harm. At this recent conference, it was suggested that physicians should minimize the length of time a young child is exposed to anesthesia as well as the number of exposures to anesthesia.With this growing evidence that multiple exposures to anesthesia may have harmful effects on developing brains, it would be prudent to consider postponing surgery when possible until the child is four years old, as long as postponing surgery does not cause harm to the child. Many times, however, surgery cannot be delayed.On a hopeful note at the conference, the University of California, Department of Anesthesia, reported that in lab animals the anesthesia induced cognitive injury could be overcome with intervention which gives more hope to the human model.
Finally, to maximize a child’s healthydevelopment, it is important to remember that every year is impactful in developing their foundation for the future, and the effect of each year is cumulative. As was stated in the article “every year counts”.
