influence of general anesthesia when combined with epidural anesthesia in postoperative delirium in elderly patients undergoing hip replacement surgery

ABSTRACT

Cognitive impairment [e.g., delirium confusion] is a significant problem in elderly patients during the early postoperative period. Postoperative delirium, a transient mental dysfunction, can result in Increased morbidity, delayed functional recovery and prolonged hospital stay in the elderly. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of epidural anesthesia when combined with general anesthesia on the incidence as well as the recovery of delirium in elderly patients undergoing hip replacement surgery. The present study was carried out on sixty adult patients [ASA I-I1I] of both sex scheduled for hip replacement surgery. Patients were randomly allocated to one of two groups to receive either general anesthesia [GA group, n =30] or GA plus epidural anesthesia with 0.75% ropivacaine [GA-EDA group, n = 30]. All patients were tested for cognitive dysfunction [Delirium] using the Confusion Assessment Method [CAM] score preoperatively and for 24 hr postoperatively. This study showed a significant incidence of +ve CAM score [36.7% and 26.7%] in the GA group and GA- EDA groups respectively at 1hr postoperatively when compared with the preoperative baseline values. From the 2[nd] hr postoperatively, there were continuous reduction in the +ve CAM score patients throughout the study period. When comparing the two studied groups, there were no significant difference in the incidence of +ve CAM score throughout the study period. Epidural anesthesia in combination with general anesthesia does not affect the incidence as well as the recovery pattern of delirium in elderly patients undergoing hip replacement surgery