-
- K Uchida, T Aoki, and B Ishizuka.
- Department of Anesthesiology, St Marianna University School of Medicine, Kawasaki, Japan.
- Med. Hypotheses. 1999 Aug 1;53(2):103-6.
AbstractThe molecular mechanisms of postoperative delirium are not understood in detail yet. This condition is similar to cases of mental symptoms in interferon therapy or hemodialysis. We propose that postoperative delirium is caused by a deficiency of serotonin, an important neurotransmitter, and review the evidence supporting our hypothesis. The serotonin deficiency results from a decrease in tryptophan, the serotonin precursor, and from an increase in melatonin, a serotonin metabolite. Our hypothesis may be applicable to the mechanisms of mental symptoms in interferon therapy and hemodialysis. In addition, we discuss to the relationship between homeostasis and biorhythms because postoperative delirium may be a dysrhythmia.
Notes
Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
- Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as
*italics*,_underline_or**bold**. - Superscript can be denoted by
<sup>text</sup>and subscript<sub>text</sub>. - Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines
1. 2. 3., hyphens-or asterisks*. - Links can be included with:
[my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com) - Images can be included with:
 - For footnotes use
[^1](This is a footnote.)inline. - Or use an inline reference
[^1]to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document[^1]: This is a long footnote..