Anesthetic management during tracheotomy in a child with respiratory distress caused by severe intubation-induced glottic stenosis.

We provided anesthetic management during a tracheotomy procedure for a child who demonstrated labored respiration during inspiration because of severe glottic stenosis and bilateral vocal cord paralysis caused by tracheal intubation. A 4-year-old boy developed acute respiratory depression associated with influenza pneumonia and had been under respiratory management with mechanical ventilation with tracheal intubation for 3 days. Following extubation, an upper-airway obstruction immediately appeared. The symptoms later worsened because of development of a common cold, and the patient underwent an emergency tracheotomy. For anesthetic management, we used a combination of ketamine with low-concentration sevoflurane inhalation. The tracheotomy was performed safely without respiratory complications by employing manual-assisted ventilation, while spontaneous breathing was preserved by use of a face mask.

Perioperative management of a neonate with Cantrell syndrome.

Cantrell syndrome is a congenital malformation with a pentalogy characterized by defects involving the abdominal wall, lower sternum, anterior diaphragm, and diaphragmatic pericardium, as well as congenital cardiac anomalies. We recently managed anesthesia in a patient with this syndrome and herein report our experience. The patient was a 14-day-old male neonate, who had been diagnosed with Cantrell syndrome, including ventricular septal defect, left ventricular diverticulum, abdominal wall defect, omphalocele, and sternal hypoplasia. Surgical interventions to close the ventricular septal defect, resect the left ventricular diverticulum, and close the omphalocele were scheduled. After cardiac surgery, the hernial contents were returned to their original compartment and, subsequently, an attempt was made to suture the abdominal wall. However, blood pressure fell markedly and the attempt was discontinued. The chest was left open postoperatively and the patient was transferred to the intensive care unit (ICU), during which time circulatory and respiratory management was very complex. Issues requiring particular attention in the management of anesthesia for patients with this syndrome include complications of diverse cardiac malformations, pulmonary hypertension, pulmonary hypoplasia, and respiratory and circulatory failure associated with increased intraabdominal pressure due to primary closure of the omphalocele. Accordingly, extreme caution must be taken to restore respiratory and circulatory control.

[Comparison of total intravenous anesthesia and inhalation anesthesia regarding hormonal responses during lung lobectomy].

BACKGROUND: Anesthetic techniques can modulate surgical stress responses. We studied the response of plasma epinephrine, norepinephrine, dopamine, adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH), and serum cortisol during lung lobectomy under sevoflurane, propofol and fentanyl anesthesia. METHODS: Fifty patients with lung cancer were of ASA physical status 1 or 2 and aged 50-75 yr. Blood samples were drawn before anesthetic induction, 5 min after tracheal extubation, and 24 h as well as 72 h after operation. RESULTS: Five min after tracheal extubation, plasma levels of epinephrine, norepinephrine and dopamine were significantly lower in the group that had received propofol - fentanyl anesthesia (P-F group) compared with the group that had received sevoflurane-fentanyl anesthesia (S-F group). In the P-F group, plasma levels of norepinephrine and dopamine 5 min after tracheal extubation were the same as the pre-induction levels. The increase in ACTH levels was significantly less in the P-F group in comparison with the group S-F. CONCLUSIONS: Propofol-fentanyl anaesthesia prevents the increase in catecholamines and reduces the ACTH response during lung lobectomy.

The management of difficult intubation in infants: a retrospective review of anesthesia record database.

We retrospectively reviewed the anesthesia records of infants < 1 year of age for elucidating the incidence of difficult intubation and airway management in a single general hospital. The electronic data records from a total of 753 consecutive anesthesiological procedures in 513 different infants were analyzed. After excluding data with a lack of records of laryngoscopic findings, a total of 497 procedures (389 different infants) with either remarks of difficult intubation (requiring > 10 min for tracheal intubation) or records of Cormack-Lehane grade were included. Demographic data are median age 5 (range, 0-11) months, height 61 (33-84) cm, body weight 6.0 (1.1 - 11.8) kg. The number of cases with ASA physical status I, II, III and IV was 182 (36.6 %), 135 (27.3 %), 177 (35.5 %) and 3 (0.6 %), respectively. Cormack-Lehane grade 1, 2, 3 and 4 was seen in 450 (90.5 %), 32 (6.4 %), 6 (1.2 %) and 6 (1.2 %) cases, respectively. Document of difficult intubation was found in 12 cases (2.4 %, 10 different infants) with a lack of record of Cormack-Lehane grade in 3 cases. Of these 10 infants, nine had multiple congenital anomalies including heart diseases and cleft palate. Without premedication, general anesthesia was induced with intravenous midazolam or sevoflurane in the 12 cases. Tracheal intubation was performed after disappearance of spontaneous respiration except three cases who were intubated in the awake state or under sedation. Elapsed time from induction of anesthesia to intubation was 17 (14-29) min. Although mask ventilation was adequate in all cases, two cases (one infant) developed hypoxia and bradycardia during tracheal intubation. No remarkable decrease of SpO2 or bradycardia less than 100 bpm was detected in other cases. In conclusion, we found difficult intubation in 2.4 % of infants undergoing general anesthesia. Although muscle relaxants are useful for facilitating tracheal intubation, it should be carefully used with the preparation of other airway devices in infants with predicted difficult intubation.