Interpretation and Implementation Prospects of Expert Consensus on Comprehensive Anesthetic Therapy for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social communication deficits, stereotyped behaviors, and restricted interests, which seriously affects children’s developmental functioning and imposes heavy burdens on families and society. Although comprehensive anesthetic therapy has been increasingly adopted for the clinical intervention of autism spectrum disorder in children, the lack of unified clinical criteria has limited its standardized and widespread application. To fill this clinical gap and standardize relevant diagnosis and treatment practices, the Therapeutics Group of the Anesthesiology Branch of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association developed the Expert Consensus on the Clinical Application of Comprehensive Anesthetic Therapy in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in 2025, which was published in Guangdong Medical Journal . This consensus systematically elaborates the core clinical specifications for comprehensive anesthetic therapy for pediatric ASD, covering indications, contraindications, therapeutic principles, standardized intervention procedures, and multidisciplinary collaboration systems. Based on available clinical evidence, the consensus recommends low-concentration sevoflurane inhalation as the core intervention and establishes a multimodal comprehensive treatment system that combines stellate ganglion block, neuromodulation, behavioral rehabilitation training, and characteristic traditional Chinese medicine therapies. Focusing on nine key clinical issues in ASD treatment, the consensus formulates seven recommendations with explicit evidence grades and recommendation strengths. It provides clinicians with a standardized, rigorous and systematic therapeutic framework, offers reliable evidence for clinical decision-making, and serves as a valuable reference for the standardized clinical development of comprehensive anesthetic therapy for ASD.