Andropoulos DB, Greene MF. Anesthesia and Developing Brains – Implications of  the FDA Warning. N Engl J Med. 2017 Mar 9;376(10):905-907.

“Indicated procedures in pregnant women and young children that can safely be delayed are rare. Until reassuring new information from well-designed clinical trials is available, we are concerned that the FDA warning will cause delays for necessary surgical and diagnostic procedures that require anesthesia, resulting in adverse outcomes for patients. We would urge parents, patients, and physicians to carefully consider the risks of delaying indicated procedures.

The warning also states that “additional high quality research is needed to investigate the effects of repeated and prolonged anesthesia exposures in children, including vulnerable populations.” We fully support this effort, including outcome studies specifically for fetuses exposed to general anesthetic and sedative agents in utero.”