Leopoldina-Symposium „Postoperative Cognitive Dysfunction”

More than 200 million surgical procedures are performed worldwide every year. In industrial nations a large part of these operations are attributable to elderly patients. These patients are prone to suffer from complications even during planned surgery. Besides cardiovascular and surgical complications, they are at high risk for developing acute and chronic postoperative cognitive dyfunctions. Several studies have shown that delirium, which is the most common type of acute postoperative cognitive disorder, is associated with a loss of individual autonomy, increased care-dependency as well as an increased mortality. This explains the high relevance oft he topic. 30 % of the elderly patients suffer from delirium after a surigcal procedure - in some specialities more than half of the patients. A preserved cognitive performance and a good physical condition are both required for individual autonomy and a high quality of life at any age. Today, there are already several effective strategies to minimise negative consequences and maintain cognitive perfor-mance. Nevertheless, we are facing a lack of medical care structure to implement and utilize these strategies adequately. This affects especially the interdisciplinary risk evaluation and the cooperation between outpatient and inpatient care.

The range of postoperative cognitive dysfunctions is linked to scientific, socioeconomic and social chal-lenges. The Leopoldina-Symposium has been conceived to deal with these challenges in an inter-professional way. The symposium is focused to unite experts from science, the public sector, politicians, economics and other parts of society to discuss socioeconomic and scientific questions.

Photo: Bjoern Weiss