There is increasing evidence of neurodevelopmental impairment in survivors of non-cardiac surgery (1,2,3,4). Psychosocial maldevelopment and emotional problems have been reported to occur more commonly in children with repaired abdominal wall defects, and routine assessment of survivors of non-cardiac surgery has been recommended throughout later childhood (5,6). These reports also emphasize the need for further study of children who undergo major non-cardiac surgery in the neonatal period so that the neurological substrate for subsequent abnormal neurodevelopment can be better understood.