Expert: Dr Ian Jackson - please note UK based - 3/15/2008

Question
Are there any known longterm effects of being given too much anethesia? memory loss, loss of concentration, brain damage, etc.??

Answer
Hi there Shayna
There have been no trials of giving people too much anaesthesia - which is hardly surprising. Therefore it is not surprising that it is difficult to give you much information about this.
However we do have increasing amounts of information about the effects of normal anaesthesia. There is no doubt that anaesthesia has an effect on memory function and concentration that effects a percentage of the population. This percentage increases with age 7% of those over 60 will be affected increasing to 14% of those over 70.
The mechanism for this is not fully understood and we do not know if giving deeper levels of anaesthesia (and so more of the drugs) has any relationship to this problem. Current work suggests that this is an issue at the cellular level - if you google search for postoperative cognitive dysfunction you will find lots of info about it.
Bottom line is that there can be a problem, this problem does tend to be self limiting and function returns to normal over some months but as you get older this becomes harder and less likely.
Hope this answers your question.
Dr Ian Jackson