Intravenous Versus Inhalational Anesthesia in Parkinson's Disease
Status:
Terminated
Trial end date:
2011-04-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Parkinson's disease is a common progressive degenerative disease affecting 3% of all patients
over the age of 65. Given their age and frailty, these patients frequently require surgical
procedures with general anesthesia. However, after surgery, patients with Parkinson's disease
have longer hospital stays and a greater chance of not returning to independent living
compared to age-matched controls (Berman MF, unpublished data). In part, this is due to a
higher rate of post-operative delirium, which had an incidence of 60% in this population in
one study. There is anecdotal evidence from neurologists specializing in movement disorder
suggesting that there is also significant deterioration in parkinsonian motor symptoms and
cognition lasting for months or years following surgery and anesthesia. The basis for this
deterioration is unknown. We hypothesize that these problems are caused by particular
medications used during inhaled anesthesia for surgical procedures.