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Studies suggest long-term, possibly lethal effects of anesthesia

Ambulatory Surgery Reimbursement Update, July 5, 2005

Two recently published studies linking deep sedation and an increased risk of the death within the first one to two years after surgery has doctors searching for an explanation about the long-term effect of anesthesia, according to a story in the Los Angeles Times.

One study, presented last fall at the American Society of Anesthesiologists, showed that the time spent under deep anesthesia can play a major role in predicting a patient's death up to two years after the surgery. In the study, most of the deaths resulted from heart attacks or cancer despite the patient undergoing non-cardiac surgery.

In the other study, published this past January in the journal Anesthesia & Analgesia, researchers linked an increased risk of death the year after surgery following longer amounts of time spent under deep sedation. Like the study last fall, the patients in this study by Duke University died primarily from heart attacks or cancer despite undergoing major but non-cardiac surgery

"We don't know whether the things we do really have an effect that lasts out to a very long period of time, but there is enough evidence to suggest it might," said David Gaba, MD, a professor of anesthesiology at Stanford University School of Medicine. "Even if it's a subtle and fairly uncommon phenomenon, it could affect an awful lot of people."

About 20 million Americans undergo surgery with general anesthesia annually, according to the Los Angeles Times.

To view an abstract of the Anesthesia & Analgesia study, "Anesthetic Management and One-Year Mortality After Noncardiac Surgery," click here.

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