Mental function in elderly men after surgery during epidural analgesia

Abstract

To evaluate whether there is a difference in mental function after general anaesthesia and epidural analgesia, a homogeneous group of 40 elderly men (age between 60 and 80) undergoing transurethral prostatectomy was studied. The study was prospective, randomised and double blind. Patients with all type of complications believed to impair mental function were excluded. Long-term, short-term, verbal and visual memory were tested preoperatively, and 4 days, and 3 weeks postoperative. In conclusion, we found a significant and equal decline in test performance on the fourth postoperative day. Three weeks postoperatively, however, both groups had returned to or exceeded preoperatively levels of performance.