Agitation, hallucinations, memory impairment… what is postoperative delirium ?

Qu’est-ce que le délirium post-opératoire ?

After major surgery, some patients may experience symptoms of confusion and hallucinations. What exactly is this? ?

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Disorientation in time and space, a certain agitation, hallucinations, an alteration of short-term memory… These are some of the symptoms that can appear in patients after surgery. This is called postoperative delirium. It is a recognized psychiatric disorder that affects up to 70% of patients over the age of 60 who have undergone major surgery. Indeed, age remains one of the most significant risk factors.

Other factors have been identified. In addition to the presence of tramadol after surgery.

What are the consequences of this disorder ?

Patients who present with postoperative delirium see the length of their hospital stay increase. Another consequence is that this disorder accelerates cognitive decline and has a negative impact on functional recovery. Finally, it increases surgical morbidity and mortality rates.

What management ?

When this disorder occurs, it is often necessary to administer low-dose antipsychotics to ensure the safety of the patient. The patient may be at risk of injury due to hallucinations, for example. However, treatment must be stopped as quickly as possible.

Patient monitoring is then necessary. Knowing that the symptoms “frequently occur after a short period of time (24-48 hours) following surgery and can last up to 5 days after surgery”, indicated Dr. Franck Verdonk in a presentation at the congress of the French Society of Anesthesia and Resuscitation in 2019.