Clinical research into anesthetic neurotoxicity: does anesthesia cause neurological abnormalities in humans?

General anesthetics mitigate distress and exaggerated hemodynamic responses to pain and stressful stimulation, allowing surgery and diagnostic procedures to be performed worldwide in millions of children every year. Emerging studies, mainly carried out in early postnatal laboratory animals, demonstrate widespread neuronal elimination, alteration in neuronal circuitry, and long-term neurological disabilities following exposure to all commonly used sedatives and anesthetics. These findings have raised concerns among parents, anesthesiologists, neuroscientists, and government regulators about the safety of anesthetic drugs in children, especially infants.