View clinical trials related to POCD.
Filter by:This study will recruit surgical patients more than 65 years old. Patients who participate will wear a sticker on their forehead during surgery which monitors their brain waves (electroencephalogram, EEG) and participate in memory testing before and after surgery. Brain wave patterns will be compared between patients who have problems with memory and thinking after surgery and those who do not. The hypothesis is that there will be characteristic brain wave patients for who will go on to have problems with memory and thinking after surgery.
Elderly patients who undergo anesthesia and non-cardiac surgery are subject to deterioration of brain function including the development of postoperative delirium (PD) and postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD). These disorders cause disability, distress for both patients and their families, are associated with other medical complications and account for significant additional health care costs. We currently use relatively primitive approaches to preventing and treating PD and POCD. Dexmedetomidine is a drug used for sedation in critically ill patients that provides some pain relief and controls the bodies response to stress. The sedation produced by dexmedetomidine appears more similar to natural sleep than any other drug used for anesthesia and postoperative sedation. Data suggesting that dexmedetomidine can prevent delirium following cardiac surgery and the developing understanding of the causes of PD and POCD suggest that dexmedetomidine will be particularly effective.