Abstract
Pediatric anesthesia has always been conjuncted with higher risk than anesthesia for adults (JP Morray; Pediatric Anesthesia 2011;21:722-9). Not only the imminent critical events, but also, caused by recently published data, the theoretical neurotoxicity of anesthetic agents and a potential negative influence of anesthetics on brain development, are in the spotlight. Concerns about the neurodevelopement and the general warnings from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for anesthesia in young children led to a worldwide discussion about safety in pediatric anesthesia (FDA Safety Announcement 2017). Beside these theoretical risks, which are based only on animal research, we have to pay much more attention to the widely spread out poor quality of anesthesia in children. The following article should summarize the state of science about the risks and the opportunities to minimize them.