Effect of General Anesthesia on the Emergence of Parkinson's Disease

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of general anesthesia (GA) administered beforethe onset of Parkinson's disease (PD) to the emergence and course of the disease. Onehundred and eight patients with PD and 88 control subjects were evaluated in terms ofpresence and frequency of GA in their medical history. Patients who had GA were compared with who did not in terms of age of onset, duration of disease, and disease severity. Patient and control groups were simiLar in terms of presence and frequency of administration of GA in history. Patients who had GA before the emergence of PD had more severe disease when compared with the patients who did not. This might be due to the malicious effect of drugs frequently used during GA (like halotane and isofLourane) to dopaminergic transmission. The issue of whether GA is an environmental risk factor for PD seems worth investigating prospectively.