Impact of Anesthesia on the Development of Postoperative Delirium

Introduction/Aim. Postoperative delirium is defined as an acute state of confusion that develops within hours or days after surgical intervention. With the global aging of the world population, the number of geriatric patients who will undergo surgery is on a steady rise, increasing therefore the possibility of postoperative delirium. The primary aim of this study was to determine the effect of age, type of surgical procedure, as well as the type of anesthesia on postoperative delirium. Methods. The investigation was performed in the form of a prospective study. Patients who underwent general and regional anesthesia were included. Benzodiazepines and atropine were used for premedication; from among intravenous anesthetics, propofol was used for hypnosis and from inhalation anesthetics sevoflurane; for analgesia, opioids were used. Bupivacaine was used to administer regional anesthesia.The level of cognitive functioning was tested using two tests: the Mini Mental Examination in the preoperative period and the CAM-ICU in the postoperative period. Results. Using the t-test for independent samples, it was found that there was a statistically significant difference between the two age groups of patients. It was found that there was no statistically significant difference in terms of cognitive functioning between patients who received general anesthesia and those who received regional anesthesia. The results of the analysis showed that there was no statistically significant difference between groups who received different types of surgery. Conclusion. The practical value of this study is that the preparation of patients for these types of abdominal interventions can follow the general guidelines.