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What Are the Side Effects of General Anesthsia on the Elderly?

As you get older your body changes. What you used to be able to tolerate as a younger individual, you may now have difficulties with as an elderly person. This is true of general anesthesia. General anesthesia is different on a younger person than an elderly person, and many times different precautions must be followed.

  1. General Anesthesia

    • General anesthesia is the use of medications to put you into a deep sleep, or a state of unconsciousness. There is no pain felt in the entire body, and it is the most common form of anesthesia used today. It relaxes the muscles and blocks your memory.

    General Anesthesia and the Elderly

    • People over 65 years represent nearly one-third of the surgical procedures performed each year. There are different risk factors associated with geriatric patients compared to younger patients. Different precautions must be adhered to when administering general anesthesia to an elderly patient.

    Effects on the Heart

    • The elderly heart can have stiffened valves and ventricles. If you are elderly and have an increased diastolic pressure or diastolic dysfunction, general anesthesia can cause elevated left ventricular filling pressures. This can lead to pulmonary congestion. There can also be loss of sinus rhythm, depressed cardiac output and decreased arterial pressure.

    Effects on the Nervous System

    • Elderly people can develop deficiencies of the neurotransmitters. There can be a decrease in spinal cord reflexes as well as a decline in visual and auditory senses. The combination of sensory losses can cause an elderly person to lose the ability to understand and process information. This can further cause postoperative delirium where the patient has trouble understanding, develops drug toxicity, and may be prone to fall.

    Considerations

    • Because many elderly people take medications such as blood pressure medication and cholesterol medication, these should always be discussed with your physician before undergoing general anesthesia. The general anesthesia medications can interact with your prescription drugs.

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