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Age-Related Changes in Cortical Connectivity During Surgical Anesthesia
Duan Li1,2, Mike P Puglia1, Andrew P Lapointe3
1Department of Anesthesiology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.
Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience
|January 31, 2020
Summary
Aging alters brain connectivity during anesthesia. Older adults show decreased prefrontal-frontal alpha-beta connectivity and altered frontal-parietal theta transitions, suggesting age-related neurophysiologic changes during surgery.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Anesthesiology
- Gerontology
Background:
- Understanding neurophysiologic changes with aging is crucial for optimizing care in older surgical patients.
- Cortical connectivity patterns during anesthesia are not fully understood in the context of aging.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate age-related alterations in cortical connectivity patterns during surgical anesthesia.
- To identify specific electroencephalography (EEG) markers associated with aging during anesthesia.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of a prospective, observational study involving 45 adult patients undergoing surgery.
- Whole-scalp (16-channel) electroencephalography (EEG) to measure cortical connectivity.
- Functional connectivity estimated using weighted phase lag index (wPLI) and classified into states via k-means analysis.
Main Results:
- Age was inversely correlated with prefrontal-frontal alpha-beta connectivity (p=0.002) and positively correlated with frontal-parietal theta connectivity (p=0.005).
- After adjusting for anesthetic confounders, prefrontal-frontal alpha-beta connectivity remained significantly associated with age (p=0.001).
- Transitioning between frontal-parietal connectivity states, specifically from theta-alpha to theta-dominated, positively correlated with age (p=0.001).
Conclusions:
- Dynamic connectivity states, particularly involving alpha and theta bandwidths, may indicate neurophysiologic changes associated with aging during surgical anesthesia.
- Specific connectivity patterns, like reduced prefrontal-frontal alpha-beta activity, are linked to increasing age in surgical patients.
- Further research into age-related brain dynamics during anesthesia can inform clinical practice for vulnerable older adults.
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