General anesthesia is not dangerous for the brain, whatever the dose

General anesthesia is a procedure that often causes fear among patients. However, a study confirms its absence of risk for the brain.

Some medical or surgical procedures involve general anesthesia for the patient. This is not a trivial procedure, but given the fears that some people have, particularly for the brain, a study is intended to be reassuring. It is detailed here by Doctor Martin Ducret, doctor and journalist at Doctor’s Daily.

franceinfo: What exactly is general anesthesia?

Martin Ducret : The principle is to put the patient to sleep so that they are not conscious or feel pain secondary to a surgical operation. To induce this artificial state of sleep, the anesthetist uses drugs, called hypnotics, either intravenously or inhaled in the form of gas that we breathe. And the greater the dose, the deeper the state of sleep will be. There is also locoregional anesthesia, the aim of which is to put only a limb or part of the body to sleep by administering an anesthetic product by injection next to the nerve: for example, epidural anesthesia used during childbirth.

For many patients, general anesthesia raises concerns about negative effects on the brain, such as memory problems. What about it?

A recent study challenges this preconceived idea and confirms that general anesthesia is not dangerous for the brain. This study Canadian, published in English in the American medical journal JAMA, recorded in more than 1000 patients over 60 years of age, the appearance of postoperative delirium, that is to say cognitive disorders occurring in the 3 days following anesthesia. But whatever the modality – general or locoregional anesthesia – or the dose administered, anesthesia is not responsible for this type of disorder on the brain.

“This study indeed confirms that anesthesia, provided that it is carried out under good conditions, is a procedure which is not dangerous for the brain in the short and long term, explains Professor Franck Verdonk, head of the anesthesia and resuscitation department at Saint-Antoine and Tenon hospital in Paris.. You should know that a serious accident during anesthesia is extremely rare, only one case in 200,000 each year.”

So, what is the cause of the cognitive disorders you mention?

It is the surgical procedure itself which is responsible for an immune response that can be harmful to the brain. Even more so when the surgery is long and heavy, such as cardiac or orthopedic surgery, specifically in elderly and fragile patients. Hence the need to carefully weigh the pros and cons of an operation, and to stimulate the patient’s brain after surgery. The presence of those around you following an intervention is therefore essential.