Having an operation under general anesthesia is a scary and worrisome prospect for a child and his or her parents, too. But even a successful surgery can end with another, terrifying problem. Called emergence delirium, it is marked by acute behavioral changes experienced when a child wakes up from anesthesia. And it doesn't always simply go away during recovery, either. Unfortunately, emergence delirium is associated with the development of problems later down the road, too -- including bed wetting, separation anxiety and new nightmares.
While anxiety is normal before an operation, children who experience extreme anxiety before surgery are more at risk for emergence delirium. In all, about 20 percent of children who undergo surgery experience a period of severe delirium in the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) that includes crying, thrashing, screaming and even needing to be put into restraints.
Now a new study just published in the July issue of the journal Anesthesiology reports that giving youngsters oral treatment with melatonin before an operation significantly reduces the occurrence of emergence delirium after the operation. Melatonin is a naturally occurring, light dependent hormone secreted by the pineal gland that is involved in the regulation of moods, sleep and reproductive cycles.
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