The Thalamus in Perioperative Neurocognitive Disorders

Marinus Fislage; Norman Zacharias; Insa Feinkohl

doi:10.1007/s11065-023-09615-1

The Thalamus in Perioperative Neurocognitive Disorders

Neuropsychol Rev. 2023 Sep 22. doi: 10.1007/s11065-023-09615-1. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Marinus Fislage^{1

2}, Norman Zacharias³, Insa Feinkohl^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Anesthesiology and Operative Intensive Care Medicine (CCM, CVK), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, Berlin, 10117, Germany. Marinus.fislage@charite.de.
² Department of Neurology, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei City, 100225, Taiwan. Marinus.fislage@charite.de.
³ Department of Anesthesiology and Operative Intensive Care Medicine (CCM, CVK), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, Berlin, 10117, Germany.
⁴ Faculty of Health/School of Medicine, Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany.
⁵ Max-Delbrueck-Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC), Molecular Epidemiology Research Group, Berlin, Germany.

PMID: 37736862
DOI: 10.1007/s11065-023-09615-1

Abstract

Thalamus function and structure are known predictors of individual differences in the risk of age-related neurocognitive disorders (NCD), such as dementia. However, to date, little is known about their role in the perioperative setting. Here, we provide a narrative review of brain-imaging studies of preoperative and postoperative thalamus scanning parameters associated with risks of developing perioperative NCD, such as postoperative delirium (POD) and postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) during the postoperative phase. These findings are discussed in light of the concept of reserve capacity.

Keywords: Cognitive impairment; Diffusion kurtosis imaging; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Neuroanesthesia; Neuroimaging; Perioperative neurocognitive disorders; Postoperative cognitive dysfunction; Postoperative delirium; Thalamus.

Publication types

Review