FDA Study: Does Anesthesia in Children Cause Learning Deficits?

The FDA has announced a study in conjunction with the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS) to determine if anesthesia causes long-term learning deficits in children.

Called SmartTots (Strategies for Mitigating Anesthesia-Related neuroToxicity in Tots), the program is aimed at resolving conflicts among previous studies, some of which showed long-term learning deficits and other studies that did not show negative results. According to the FDA, SmartTots seeks to ensure that children under age 4 will be as safe as possible when they need anesthesia during surgery.