Background: Cerebral oxygen saturation (rSO 2 c) decrease from baseline greater than 20 % during infant cardiac surgery was associated with postoperative neurologic changes and neurodevelopmental impairment at 1 year of age. So far, there is no sufficient evidence to support the routine monitoring of rSO 2 c during general surgical procedures in children. We aimed to find out the frequency of cerebral desaturation 20 % or more from baseline and to identify possible predictors of change in cerebral oxygen saturation during neonatal and infant general surgery. Methods: Forty-four infants up to 3 months of age were recruited. Before induction of anesthesia, two pediatric cerebral sensors were placed bilaterally to the forehead region and monitoring of regional cerebral saturation of oxygen was started and continued throughout the surgery. Simultaneously, mean arterial blood pressure (MAP), pulse oximetry (SpO 2 ), heart rate (HR), endtidal CO 2 , expired fraction of sevoflurane and rectal temperature were recorded. The main outcome measure was rSO 2 c value drop-off ≥20 % from baseline. Mann-Whitney U-test, chi-squared test, simple and multiple linear regression models were used for statistical analysis.