Postoperative Cognitive Decline, Inflammation, and Plasma Levels of Beta-amyloids

Completed

Conditions studied: Postoperative Cognitive Dysfunction, Mild Cognitive Impairment

In brief

Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) can be a serious complication. The development of therapeutic strategies for the prevention and treatment of this condition requires the identification of subgroup of patients with the greatest incidence of POCD. Several retrospective analyses have raised the possibility that surgery is a risk factor for the accelerated progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Moreover, there is increasing evidence that inflammatory mechanisms are involved in the pathogenesis of AD. Major surgery can be associated with a profound systemic inflammatory response. Consequently, it is reasonable to suggest that there is a link between major surgery and the postoperative development of AD in patients who are already at high risk for this complication, e.g. the elderly with mild cognitive impairment. In addition, there are several laboratory investigations that suggest that anesthetic agents increase amyloid peptide levels as well as enhance oligomerization of these proteins. The significance of these findings, however, is unknown. This clinical study seeks to correlate perioperative inflammatory responses, perioperative changes in amyloid-beta protein levels (markers of AD) with neurocognitive and functional outcome in the elderly who are at risk for POCD. This knowledge does not exist, but is essential in the effort to plan perioperative care that can reduce the incidence of POCD as well as improve functional recovery.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT00850928

Run by

NYU Langone Health

People needed

41

Starts

2008-12-01

Expected to finish

2011-01-01

Last updated by the study team

2016-03-17

Who can join

Age: 65 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Patients age 65 and older scheduled to undergo spine surgery.
• Subjects who are able to read and understand English

You may not qualify if…

• Emergent nature of the procedure which might preclude the conduct of preoperative cognitive examination
• Participation in any other investigational intervention or clinical study
• History of psychiatric illnesses (except depression)

Where it is running

• NYU School of Medicine — New York, New York, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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