Introduction
The duration of the side effects and after-effects of anesthesia depend on many factors. In addition to age, the anaesthetic used also plays a role. Basically, however, most postoperative symptoms such as nausea or slight confusion are only of short duration.
Nausea
If no preventive measures are taken, up to 30% of all patients under general anaesthesia suffer from the so-called PONV. This abbreviation stands for the English term “postoperative nausea and vomiting“, to be translated into German as postoperative nausea and vomiting. PONV is caused by various factors.
These include the choice of anaesthetic medication, personal predisposition, but also the patient’s lifestyle. As a result, the severity and duration of this more than unpleasant side effect of anaesthesia is highly individual. Risk factors for developing postoperative nausea include the female sex and a young age of the patient (6 to 16 year olds are significantly more frequently affected).
Furthermore, the probability of developing nausea is higher during long operations and a tendency to travel sickness. Non-smokers also suffer from PONV about twice as often as smokers. Nausea as an after-effect of surgery usually lasts for several hours if left untreated.
Fortunately, well-tested treatment options are available for postoperative nausea. These include antiemetics, which are drugs for nausea such as vomex or metoclopramide. More important, however, is appropriate prevention, which can significantly reduce the risk of post-operative nausea. This should be done especially if there are several risk factors. For prophylaxis, dexamethasone or the antiemetics mentioned above can be administered at the beginning of the operation.
Forgetfulness / Confusion
Apart from pain and nausea, confusion or forgetfulness after an anaesthetic is the most common consequence of long operations. Mild confusion and increased forgetfulness immediately after awakening are harmless and occur in almost all patients. They are simply due to the remaining anaesthetic still remaining in the body, which impairs the function of the brain for some time.
Usually, however, the confusion should subside after a few minutes to hours. Nevertheless, it is not too rare that even after a longer period of time there is still an impairment of brain function. For example, in the age group of 18 to 59-year-olds, about 30 percent of all patients still suffer from cognitive disorders even after they are discharged from hospital.
This phenomenon is referred to as “postoperative cognitive deficit” (abbreviated POCD). The severity of this cognitive deficit can vary greatly, ranging from slight concentration disorders to severe disorientation. The duration of the confusion also varies.
One study found that after three months, about five percent of patients are still affected. In older patients, the proportion of those still suffering from confusion and forgetfulness after three months is even higher at 12 percent. Fortunately, these symptoms are self-limiting in almost all cases. An improvement will be noticeable gradually.
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