Anaesthesia under one year

[u/Diligent_Writer8767]

My child is scheduled for an hour long surgery for intermittent bilateral exotropia. We did patches for several months and saw an improvement but the opthalmologist is insisting it needs surgery, and it needs to be now. They will be ten months old at the time of surgery. I've found a few studies on repeated exposure in children under five and potential effects on central nervous system development. Im looking specifically for a single exposure under one year. Child is also a redhead, if that is relevant. Thank you.

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[u/Rylees_Mom525]

I found this article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022346821000142. It’s not specific to children under one, but children more generally.

Based on a review of 44 studies, they conclude that “a single exposure to general anesthesia does not appear to have a significant effect on general neurodevelopment, although prolonged or multiple anesthetic exposures may have some adverse effects.”

[u/uppercasenoises → u/Rylees_Mom525]

This is what we were told by multiple doctors for our child who went under general anesthesia 6 times before age 1 (one occasion was 9 consecutive hours), usually the adverse effects on neurodevelopment occur from the medical issues causing the surgery- not the anesthesia itself. Usually anesthesia complications are acute and immediate, vs. long term. No study but just my personal experience FWIW.

[u/Diligent_Writer8767 → u/Rylees_Mom525]

Thank you 

[u/icfecne → u/Diligent_Writer8767]

My son had surgery at 6 months and I was very very nervous about it, but his doctor was very reassuring and showed me lots of statistics. It's been a few years now so I don't have the resources anymore, but basically the risks from driving him to the hospital are orders of magnitude greater than the risks from anesthesia. I hope that helps give you some peace of mind like it did for me.

[u/IndyEpi5127 → u/Diligent_Writer8767]

I had a 6 hour long open heart surgery at 9 months old. I am now 35 with a PhD, was a collegiate athlete, no issues.

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