Summarizing, animal models show the neurotoxicity of anesthetic drugs, particularly on developing brains. In humans that would be up to about 3 years old. I didn’t remember that part, but I expect that candidates for bariatric surgery would be older than this. Also, humans have somewhat unusual brains as animals go, meaning the results might not generalize, and medical anesthesia appears to be more controlled than the animal experiments. The link cited a few studies in humans tempering the concern.
I also found this one: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hidden-dangers-of-going-under/ suggesting that postoperative delirium is due to the anesthesia itself, not the physiological stress of surgery, and side effects can persist for years. The elderly appear to be more at risk. But perhaps most candidates don’t survive long enough to become elderly. I’m not sure of the age/obesity demographics.
Ah, thanks! I’m not sure if I should actually look too far into this rabbit hole or treat it as a infohazard since if I’ll ever need general anesthesia it probably won’t be like I’ll have much choice, and if I can’t do anything about it, I’d rather not have additional worries on top. I definitely already was of the opinion that I’d rather avoid it unless it’s for something truly life-threatening, but that’s just because surgery in general always comes with its own share of risks of either death or permanent side effects. I’ve had one total anesthesia surgery suggested for a problem that is merely quality of life, can be somewhat managed pharmacologically AND has a high relapse rates after a few years, plus the surgery itself has something like a 1/1000 or so risk of complications like blindness or death. My answer to that was “yeah no thanks”. It’s difficult to assess precisely risks when discussing with some doctors but I really don’t see how that’s a decent trade off.
I can’t recall the source I heard this from, sorry. It’s been too long.
It might have been related to this issue: https://www.apsf.org/article/the-effect-of-general-anesthesia-on-the-developing-brain-is-it-time-to-temper-the-concern/
Summarizing, animal models show the neurotoxicity of anesthetic drugs, particularly on developing brains. In humans that would be up to about 3 years old. I didn’t remember that part, but I expect that candidates for bariatric surgery would be older than this. Also, humans have somewhat unusual brains as animals go, meaning the results might not generalize, and medical anesthesia appears to be more controlled than the animal experiments. The link cited a few studies in humans tempering the concern.
I also found this one: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hidden-dangers-of-going-under/ suggesting that postoperative delirium is due to the anesthesia itself, not the physiological stress of surgery, and side effects can persist for years. The elderly appear to be more at risk. But perhaps most candidates don’t survive long enough to become elderly. I’m not sure of the age/obesity demographics.
Ah, thanks! I’m not sure if I should actually look too far into this rabbit hole or treat it as a infohazard since if I’ll ever need general anesthesia it probably won’t be like I’ll have much choice, and if I can’t do anything about it, I’d rather not have additional worries on top. I definitely already was of the opinion that I’d rather avoid it unless it’s for something truly life-threatening, but that’s just because surgery in general always comes with its own share of risks of either death or permanent side effects. I’ve had one total anesthesia surgery suggested for a problem that is merely quality of life, can be somewhat managed pharmacologically AND has a high relapse rates after a few years, plus the surgery itself has something like a 1/1000 or so risk of complications like blindness or death. My answer to that was “yeah no thanks”. It’s difficult to assess precisely risks when discussing with some doctors but I really don’t see how that’s a decent trade off.