General Anesthesia-Related Neurotoxicity in the Developing Brain and Current Knowledge and Practice of Physicians at Guilan Academic Hospitals.

Abstract

BackgroundRecent articles about the topic of the anesthetic agents-related neurotoxicity have currently attracted the attention to the issue in the anesthesiology community. However, specialists in other fields should also be aware of this potential risk.ObjectivesThis study aimed to evaluate the knowledge and practice of physicians at Guilan academic hospitals regarding general anesthesia-related neurotoxicity.MethodsFirstly, the responsible anesthesia resident explained the purpose of this work to Guilan faculty and residents and if they agreed to participate a questionnaire containing 12 items was filled via a face to face interview.ResultsA response rate of 100% was achieved (271 responders from 271 eligible study responders). Also, 89 (33.1%) responders were attending, 180 (66.9%) were residents, 112 (41.6%) were female, and 157 (58.4%) were male. The mean years of experience was 8.8 ± 4.82 (2 - 28 years). According to the achieved data, the majority of the precipitants did not believe in GA toxicity.ConclusionsThis paper revealed that the current curriculum does not sufficiently address the anesthesia-related neurotoxicity problem. Indeed, the need for training and communication with non-anesthesia medical colleagues was highlighted.