The Effect of Intravenous Versus Volatile Anesthesia on Postoperative Cognitive Dysfunction in Elderly Patients

This clinical trial targets patients aged 60 years or older with American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status (ASA) 1 to 3 who undergo surgery under general anesthesia at our hospital. Before entering the operating room, patients are randomly assigned to the intravenous anesthesia group and the inhalation gas anesthesia group. The intravenous anesthesia group uses propofol for anesthesia, and the inhalation gas anesthesia group uses sevoflurane. A 3 mL blood sample is collected four times: before surgery, at the end of surgery, 4 hours after surgery, and 1st day after surgery. All blood samples will be immediately transferred to the department of Laboratory medicine and stored at -80 degree. Pre-scheduled tests to determine the brain-blood barrier permeability and inflammatory cytokines will be conducted after the recruitment of all samples. In addition, for patients scheduled to be transferred to the intensive care unit (ICU) after surgery among the study subjects, a 3 mL of cerebrospinal fluid sample is collected two times: before surgery, and at the end of surgery. The same preservation protocol will be applied to the cerebrospinal fluid samples. All study subjects will be monitored for postoperative delirium daily for up to 7 days after surgery or until discharge. Cognitive function is assessed using telephone version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (T-MOCA) before surgery and 3 months after surgery.

Inclusion criteria

• age equal to or older than 60
• american Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) grade I to III
• general anesthesia longer than 2 hours

Exclusion criteria

• history of dementia
• history of schizophrenia, epilepsy, or Parkinson's disease
• history of stroke or craniectomy
• patient denial