Medicine changed for the better one day in 1846 when a Boston man became the first human to undergo an operation without feeling any pain. The magic bullet? Anesthesia. Today, drugs that dull the agony of surgery are used routinely, even in very young children who receive the meds when they need bad cuts stitched up or tubes inserted into their ears to reduce infections. But the drugs are not risk-free. This week, Columbia University researchers presented a study at the annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists showing a possible link between exposure to anesthesia and behavioral and developmental disorders in young children. Scientists say the new research is in no way conclusive and parents should not be alarmed. Still, says the study's lead author, Dr. Lena Sun, this is "something we can't ignore."
Using a database of Medicaid patients in New York, the Columbia scientists compared a group of 625 children under the age of 3 who had received general anesthesia for hernia repair to a group of 5,000 kids who never had the surgery. They found that kids who had hernia surgery and received anesthesia were twice as likely to be diagnosed with a developmental or behavior disorder within two years. Because the study relied on past history and billing codes, "there are definitely limitations," says Sun. One example: researchers don't know any details about the kinds of disorders the children actually had. The study is "provocative," says Sun, "but very preliminary." An estimated 4 million children receive anesthesia every year, Sun says, not just for surgery but for diagnostic procedures like MRI and CAT scans.
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