Anesthesia and Developing Brains—Implications of the FDA Warning

Abstract

(Abstracted from N Engl J Med 2017;376(10):905–907) A recent US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) drug safety communication on the use of general anesthesia and sedation drugs in pregnant women and children younger than 3 years warned that use of anesthesia for more than 3 hours or repeated anesthesia exposure “may affect the development of children’s brains.” This warning will likely be added to the labels of many common general anesthetics and sedatives and will lead to some changes in practice.