5-year-old Xiaoli is the apple of her family's eye. Due to adenoid hypertrophy and recurrent inflammation, conservative treatment cannot continue and surgery is needed; 4-year-old boy Mingming needs surgery due to cryptorchidism. Although these are not major surgeries, parents still cannot help but worry - because the surgery requires general anesthesia (general anesthesia). When it comes to general anesthesia, many people feel intimidated, especially for such a young child who needs it. Parents have various concerns and questions: "Will anesthesia make them stupid and affect their growth and development?" So, what is general anesthesia? Does general anesthesia make children stupid? Below, I will explain to everyone.
What is general anesthesia?
General anesthesia, also known as general anesthesia, refers to the process of temporarily losing consciousness in children after inhaling or intravenous injection of anesthetics, ensuring the completion of various surgeries without pain. This anesthesia method completely eliminates the patient's consciousness and sensation during surgery, allowing them to fall asleep peacefully without pain. During surgery, the anesthesiologist precisely regulates the anesthesia to meet the surgical requirements and ensure the stable life of the patient.
What should children and parents pay attention to before anesthesia?
1. Fully trust the anesthesiologist, who will assess the general condition of the child the day before surgery.
2. Provide truthful information including birth conditions, dietary habits, and any special illnesses such as congenital heart disease, asthma, etc. Have you had a history of surgical anesthesia or food or drug allergies; Have you had any recent abnormalities such as colds or fever. During a cold, the respiratory tract is prone to heat up due to inflammatory reactions. During anesthesia and a period of time after anesthesia, the probability of respiratory complications such as breath holding, laryngeal spasms, and bronchial spasms in children increases significantly. Children with "upper sensitivity" are 2-7 times more likely to develop the above-mentioned complications than those without "upper sensitivity". If these children undergo general anesthesia and tracheal intubation, their incidence is 11 times higher than that of normal children, especially infants under 1 year old who may be more dangerous.
3. According to medical advice, it is necessary to give children a fast and no drink, pay attention to keeping warm, and avoid catching a cold.
Does general anesthesia make children stupid?
Before discussing this issue, let's first understand what situations can affect a child's intelligence. Generally speaking, if there is a prolonged lack of oxygen, it can cause irreversible damage to the brain and potentially affect a child's intellectual development.
If it is a general anesthesia surgery, the child will be intubated throughout the surgery to ensure smooth oxygen flow. And the surgery related to hand and foot deformities will not last too long, but the general anesthesia during this period will not have any adverse effects on their brain.
Some studies have shown that children who undergo long-term general anesthesia surgery during childhood have lower intelligence, language comprehension, and cognitive abilities compared to children who have not received general anesthesia.
Attention: This refers to a long period of time!
However, anesthetics, surgery, inflammation, or pain may all be one of the culprits. Moreover, the correlation between low preoperative cognitive ability caused by pre-existing diseases and postoperative "dumbness" in children is higher than other factors. The intelligence of children aged 0-3 who have undergone short-term general anesthesia surgery has been confirmed to be unaffected, but the effects of multiple or prolonged general anesthesia are currently unclear.
Simply put, a short period of general anesthesia surgery for a child will not affect their intelligence or academic performance, and it will not affect their ability to take the entrance exams for Tsinghua University and Peking University.
In short, a large number of children in China receive general anesthesia every year due to the need for surgical treatment. Studies have shown that infants and young children (under 3 years old) who receive general anesthesia for a long time (more than 3 hours) or multiple times (more than 3 times) may have an impact on their neurological development. However, the basis for this result is animal experiments, not human research. Currently, it is believed that receiving a safe dose of anesthesia for a short period of time will not affect the learning and memory function of healthy children, so parents do not need to worry too much about their children's intelligence being affected.