[Comparative characterization of damaging mental effect of general anesthesia using fluothane and ketamine in surgery of the face in children with congenital facial and palatal clefts].

The status of the higher nervous activity after two most common variants of total anesthesia (with ketamine and fluothane) was assessed in 33 children with cleft lip and palate aged 7 to 15 subjected to rhinocheiloplasty. Memory, attention, emotional and motor spheres were examined for 3 months after surgery. The effect of total anesthesia with ketamine on the mental status was found more detrimental. Long-term mechanical memory proved to be the most informative parameter. Its impairment presented as reversible functional injuries. Teaching of children subjected to such interventions should be carried out with due consideration for the predominant impairment of long-term memory, persisting for 2 weeks after fluothane anesthesia and for 1-2 months after ketamine anesthesia.