Smart Tots: Consensus Statement for Healthcare Professionals

Abstract

Each year, millions of infants and toddlers require anesthesia and/or sedation for surgery, procedures, and tests. Concern has been raised about the safety of the medicines used for anesthesia and sedation in young children. This concern is based on research in animals demonstrating long-term, possibly permanent, injury to the developing brain caused by exposure to these medicines.This injury results in abnormalities in behavior, learning, and memory in animals. The effect of exposure to anesthetic drugs in young children is unknown; however, some but not all studies have suggested that problems similar to those seen in animals could also occur in infants and toddlers.