Figure 4:

Cognitive trajectories and perioperative neurocognitive disorders. Depicted are a patient with high baseline cognitive reserve (blue line) and a patient with low baseline cognitive reserve (red line). Both patients experience an event in the perioperative period leading to a decrease in cognitive function, but only the patient with low baseline reserve may manifest symptoms. The green dashed lines represent the theoretical mechanism through which cognitive interventions in the pre – and postoperative phases may influence cognitive reserve and either prevent or aid recovery from PNDs. Adapted from Stern, Neurobiologia 2009 (reference # 128). PND: Perioperative neurocognitive disorder.