ABSTRACT
The Pediatric Anesthesia Neuro Development Assessment (PANDA) team at the Anesthesiology Department at Columbia University Medical Center held its fifth biennial symposium to discuss issues regarding potential neurotoxicity of anesthetic agents in pediatric patients. Overall optimal surgical timing as well as a "critical window" for surgery on a specialty specific basis are areas of focus for the American Academy of Pediatrics Surgical Advisory Panel. An ad hoc panel of pediatric surgical experts representing general surgery, urology, neurosurgery, and ophthalmology was assembled for this meeting and provided a dialogue focused on the benefits of early intervention versus potential anesthetic risk, addressing parental concerns, and the need for continued interdisciplinary collaboration in this area.
Subject(s)
Anesthetics/adverse effects , Neurotoxicity Syndromes/prevention & control , Age Factors , Animals , Child , HumansABSTRACT
Neurotoxicity related to early exposure to various insults, both anesthesia-related and nonanesthesia-related, is a topic of ongoing and increasing interest. To better understand the process by which this might occur, the fifth PANDA Symposium convened a session in which 4 notable neuroscientists discussed current concepts and research in neurodevelopment, highlighting periods of particular susceptibility and ways in which neural connectivity and systemic functioning may be affected.
