Side effects of using anesthesia in children under 3 years of age and on pregnant women (mother- to fetus exposure) have been under a lot of deliberation for last decade. In this context, FDA keeps issuing warnings with respect to the use of anesthesia and sedation on the neuro-development of these children or fetuses. For more than a decade, the neurotoxic effects of anesthetic agents and sedation administered to young children or indirectly through pregnant women to fetuses has been a matter of concern.
In this regard, food and drug administration (FDA) has been continuously updating their indications on using anesthesia in pregnant women or in younger children. This article enlists some of the important observations made by FDA from in vitro, animal, and clinical studies. Experimental & Clinical Observations All the general anesthetics (including both N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA)…
