Book Description
Post-operative neuropsychiatric disorder (POND) is a series of neuropsychiatric symptoms strongly linked to the triggering factors, anesthesia, and surgery exposure. The clinical manifestations mainly include delirium, cognitive dysfunction, and affective disorders after surgeries. POND is the most frequent postoperative complication in elderly patients, especially those undergoing major surgery, such as cardiac and hip surgeries. It has been well recognized that oxidative stress, abnormal changes in neurotransmitters and synapses, as well as Aβ deposition, and phosphorylation of tau protein are probably involved in the mechanisms of POND. Although studies on the POND are in full swing, underlying pathogenesis is still ambiguous because of conflicting results and controversial evidence. Currently, patients with POND still fail to receive effective treatments, although clinical studies in this field have focused on these potential therapeutic targets in the last decades. Most importantly, more than 320 million people are scheduled to undergo surgeries every year globally, it is, therefore, an urgent need to develop and provide effective therapeutic strategies for patients with POND.
