Autism & Anesthetic Exposure Study

Cognitive, Behavioural and Metabolic Effects of Anesthesia in Patients With Autism Spectrum Disorder: a Pilot Study

As anesthesia is often needed for childhood surgery and procedures, researchers have examined the potential effects of anesthesia on neurodevelopment. There are few studies that have examined the effect of anesthesia on neurodevelopment in children with confirmed diagnoses of ASD, and the results of these studies are mixed. Children with neurodevelopmental disorders can have age-dependent variations in brain anatomy, function, and connectivity, which may alter their sensitivity to the potential neurotoxic effects of anesthetic and sedative drugs. Given the potential adverse neurodevelopmental effects of anesthesia on typically developing children, it is important to examine if anesthesia exposure can worsen the clinical course of ASD.

We hypothesize that children with a confirmed diagnosis of ASD will regress developmentally following general anesthesia for dental surgery in comparison to children without ASD (controls) undergoing dental surgery. In this pilot study, we will investigate this hypothesis through the following objectives:

1. to determine in a clinical study if anesthesia induces post-operative persistent adverse changes children with ASD as compared with typically developing controls;
2. to determine the potential mechanism for the adverse effects of anesthetics on patients with ASD compared to healthy controls, peripheral blood mononuclear cells will be isolated from blood samples (PBMCs), before genomic DNA isolation for mitochondrial content analysis.

Inclusion Criteria For Autism Spectrum Disorder Group:

• child is undergoing dental surgery
• child is aged 4 to 12 years
• child has mild-to-moderate diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder
• child has an American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) Physical Status level I or II

Exclusion Criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder Group:

- child does not use words or phrases to communicate

Inclusion Criteria for Typically Developed Controls Group:

• child is undergoing dental surgery
• child is matched to an autism spectrum disorder participant according to age, gender, and ASA level