Despite decades of research, the question of developmental anesthetic neurotoxicity remains unsettled and continues to divide the medical community and beyond. Additionally, it continues to remain unknown if there is a clinically relevant biologic gradient of early-life anesthesia exposure. Since there is a strong association between exposure length and comorbidities, it is very difficult to plan and execute an ideal study. The only certainty is that the issue of developmental anesthetic neurotoxicity will remain a challenging question to answer in the near future.
Ing & Vutskits.
Anesthesiology October 2023