Brain Injury in Postoperative Delirium: Lessons from Neurofilament Light

Editorial| May 2024 Brain Injury in Postoperative Delirium: Lessons from Neurofilament Light Thomas Payne, M.D.; Thomas Payne, M.D. Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Richard C. Lennertz, M.D., Ph.D.; Richard C. Lennertz, M.D., Ph.D. Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Robert D. Sanders, M.D., Ph.D. Robert D. Sanders, M.D., Ph.D. Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Author and Article Information This editorial accompanies the article on p. 950. Accepted for publication January 17, 2024. Address correspondence to Dr. Sanders: Anesthesiology May 2024, Vol. 140, 884–886. https://doi.org/10.1097/ALN.0000000000004921 Connected Content Article: Serum Neurofilament Light and Postoperative Delirium in Cardiac Surgery: A Preplanned Secondary Analysis of a Prospective Observational Study Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Cite Icon Cite Get Permissions Search Site Citation Thomas Payne, Richard C. Lennertz, Robert D. Sanders; Brain Injury in Postoperative Delirium: Lessons from Neurofilament Light. Anesthesiology 2024; 140:884–886 doi: https://doi.org/10.1097/ALN.0000000000004921 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentAll PublicationsAnesthesiology Search Advanced Search Topics: brain injuries, postoperative delirium Although the earliest descriptions of delirium date back to 500 BC, it was the English doctor Philip Barrough who first reported in 1583 a "loss of memory and reasoning power" after the resolution of delirium.1 Modern population-based studies have supported this observation by demonstrating an association between delirium and subsequent accelerated cognitive decline.2 This begs a fundamental question: is delirium causative of cognitive impairment, or is it a symptom of a "vulnerable" brain that was already in decline? Proving causation in this area is difficult but nonetheless extremely important to the study of delirium prevention. One tool to help us prove causation is the demonstration of neuropathology in delirium: if people incur greater brain damage during an episode of delirium, this would provide a pathophysiological connection between delirium and greater subsequent cognitive decline. In this issue of Anesthesiology, Khalifa et al.3 assess the relationship between a... You do not currently have access to this content.