The possibility that anesthesia and surgery produces lasting cognitive losses has gained attention over past decades, but direct evidence has remained ambiguous and controversial. Now, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania provide further evidence that Alzheimer’s pathology may be increased in patients after surgery. “We have long sought a clearer picture of the true impact of anesthesia and surgery on the central nervous system,” said lead study author Roderic Eckenhoff, MD, Austin Lamont Professor of Anesthesia at Penn. “Although not definitive, this human biomarker study gives some credibility to the notion that anesthesia and surgery produce an inflammatory insult on the brain and accelerate chronic neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.”
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