biostudies-literatureUnknown14Banerji AThe course of neuro-cognitive recovery following anaesthesia and surgery is distinctive and poorly understood. Our objective was to identify patterns of neuro-cognitive recovery of the domains routinely assessed for delirium diagnosis in the post anaesthesia care unit (PACU) and to compare them to the cognitive recovery patterns observed in other studies; thereby aiding in the identification of pathological (high risk) patterns of recovery in the PACU. We also compared which of the currently available tests (3D-CAM, CAM-ICU, and NuDESC) is the best to use in PACU. This was a <i>post hoc</i> secondary analysis of data from the Alpha Max study which involved 200 patients aged over 60 years, scheduled for elective surgery under general anaesthesia lasting more than 2 h. These patients were asFrontiers in aging neuroscience930434https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC9577324biostudies-literatureDeconstructing delirium in the post anaesthesia care unit.PMC9577324Sleigh JWGaskell ALGarcia PSBanerji AVoss LJfalseDeconstructing delirium in the post anaesthesia care unit.The course of neuro-cognitive recovery following anaesthesia and surgery is distinctive and poorly understood. Our objective was to identify patterns of neuro-cognitive recovery of the domains routinely assessed for delirium diagnosis in the post anaesthesia care unit (PACU) and to compare them to the cognitive recovery patterns observed in other studies; thereby aiding in the identification of pathological (high risk) patterns of recovery in the PACU. We also compared which of the currently available tests (3D-CAM, CAM-ICU, and NuDESC) is the best to use in PACU. This was a <i>post hoc</i> secondary analysis of data from the Alpha Max study which involved 200 patients aged over 60 years, scheduled for elective surgery under general anaesthesia lasting more than 2 h. These patients were as2022-01-01T00:00:00Z20222025-04-18T22:13:59.323Z2025-04-07T10:00:14.634ZS-EPMC95773243626819410.3389/fnagi.2022.930434