Anesthetics and Alzheimer's disease: background and research. Preface.

Numerous anecdotal reports suggest that elderly subjects undergoing surgical procedures may experience longterm cognitive impairment with clinical features similar to those in patients with dementia, raising concerns that surgery and anesthesia could increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) or accelerate the progression of the condition [1]. The population of surgical patients is aging and we are thus presently confronted by both increases in the number of persons at risk of developing AD and the number of elderly persons undergoing surgical procedures. Any possible association between the two therefore merits careful consideration.