JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Cognitive effects after epidural vs general anesthesia in older adults. A randomized trial.
To compare the effect of epidural vs general anesthesia on the incidence of long-term cognitive dysfunction after total knee replacement surgery in older adults. ⋯ The type of anesthesia, general or epidural, does not affect the magnitude or pattern of postoperative cognitive dysfunction or the incidence of major cardiovascular complications in older adults undergoing elective total knee replacement. This is the largest trial of the effects of general vs regional anesthesia on cerebral function reported to date, with more than 99% power to detect a clinically significant difference on any of the neuropsychological tests.