title: Early childhood exposure to short periods of sevoflurane is not associated with later, lasting cognitive deficits.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A detrimental effect of commonly used anesthetics on the neurodevelopmental and behavioral parameters has long been shown in young animals subjected to early childhood anesthesia. Epidemiologic studies suggest the possibility of a modestly elevated risk of adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes in children exposed to anesthesia during early childhood. However, these results are still preliminary and inconclusive.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To further elucidate the probability of occurrence of such adverse outcomes, we evaluated cognitive performance of children who underwent general anesthesia early in their childhood.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred and fifteen children aged 5-16 years with established glaucoma were included in the study. Of these, 68 children had a history of at least one general anesthesia with sevoflurane before age 3. Phonemic and semantic verbal fluency, and forward and backward digit span tests were performed to evaluate cognitive function in the study subjects.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The two-way anova revealed that all these variables showed significant changes in various age groups, but they were comparable among subjects with no, single, or multiple childhood anesthesia.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It can be concluded that brief periods of anesthesia with single anesthetic sevoflurane may be safe for children under age 3.
authors.affiliation: Anesthesiology Department, Labbafinejad Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahtab
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Poor Zamany Nejat Kermany
authors.affiliation: Anesthesiology Department, Labbafinejad Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Roodneshin
authors.affiliation: Anesthesiology Department, Labbafinejad Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Niloofar
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ahmadi Dizgah
authors.affiliation: Ophthalmology Department, Labbafinejad Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Ebrahim
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gerami
authors.affiliation: Physiology Department, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Esmail
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Riahi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D018685:Anesthetics, Inhalation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000139:chemically induced*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008738:Methyl Ethers / Q000009:adverse effects*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D000077149:Sevoflurane
chemical_list: D018685:Anesthetics, Inhalation; D008738:Methyl Ethers; D000077149:Sevoflurane
keywords: anesthesia; children; cognitive performance; digit span; sevoflurane; verbal fluency