Discussion
cognitive impairment, volume reduction, POCD, Alzheimer’s disease, postoperative deliriumA
SECONDARY, ATROPHIC
In this exploratory secondary analysis of an observational cohort study in older patients we did not find an association of thalamus volume with preCI nor POCD. Thus, we presume that the preoperative thalamus volume is not a suitable biomarker. In accordance with the growing body of literature indicating a pivotal role of the thalamus in cognition, we could observe an effect of thalamic volume on preoperative cognition measured as continuous composite z-score.While a smaller, possibly atrophic thalamus puts patients at risk for or can be observed in instances of mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease and postoperative deliriumA different study group has shown a thalamic volume reduction after surgeryPOCD as an outcome in research presents a variety of methodological shortcomings. For instance, definitions of POCD are fairly heterogenous