Today it is more frequent that patients older than 60 years get into the ward to be operated for several causes. This has implied that interest in neurocognitive complications in the short and long term that patients may have after an anesthetic surgical event has increased. Postoperative neurocognitive complications can be grouped into the entity called postoperative cognitive disorders, which includes delirium and postoperative cognitive dysfunction. These entities have been associated with adverse outcomes, such as prolonged hospital stay, increased risk of institutionalization, increased health spending, and even increased mortality. Although etiopathogenesis is poorly understood, it is accepted that oxidative stress and inflammation generated by the anesthetic surgical event are relevant as causal mechanisms. Currently, cognitive disorders after surgery are detected when the patient have symptoms, which is late for early and timely management. Therefore, the need to study new forms of intraoperative brain monitoring is the reason for various lines of research in the world. In this sense, it seems that the eventual use of the intraoperative electroencephalogram, together with the determination of plasma biomarkers of oxidative stress, could help to predict early the patients who are going to develop these complications, which would allow to modify the anesthetic practice and make an early intervention in order to lessen the short- and long-term effects.
Gutiérrez, R., & Penna, A. (2020). Trastornos cognitivos postoperatorios: Del delirium a la disfunción cognitiva postoperatoria. Boletín De Anestesia, (1), pp. 7–15. Retrieved from https://boletinanestesia.uchile.cl/index.php/BA/article/view/57912
