Anaesthetic Management for Cataract Surgery in VACTERL Syndrome Case Report.

SUMMARY: Eight year old girl, weighing 14 kg with VACTERL syndrome V: Vertebral anomalies, A: Anal malformation, C: Cardiovascular defect, TE: Tracheal and esophageal malformation, R: Renal agenesis, L: Limb anomalies. underwent cataract surgery under general anaesthesia. She had multiple congenital anomalies like esophageal atresia, imperforate anus (corrected), single kidney & radial aplasia. Anticipating problems of gastro-esophageal reflux & chronic renal failure, successful management was done.

Hallermann-Streiff syndrome: airway problems during anaesthesia.

In the patients with Hallermann-Streiff Syndrome, presence of mandibular hypoplasia and microstomia results in difficult intubation. The anaesthetic management of a three month old child with this syndrome for lensectomy is presented in this report. There was difficulty in maintaining the airway patency during induction which was solved with the help of a modified, improvised airway. Intubation was done after induction with a combination of inhalational and intravenous anaesthetic agents and muscle relaxant. Recognition of this syndrome should alert the physician to the possibility of difficulty in airway maintenance.

Anaesthetic considerations in a patient with Fraser syndrome.

A 16-year-old girl with Fraser syndrome underwent abdominal hysterectomy under general anaesthesia. She had multiple congenital anomalies which included a cardiac defect and airway abnormalities. Intubation difficulties were circumvented by the retrograde technique of placement of the tracheal tube.

Hypotensive anaesthesia for spine surgery--nitroglycerin vs halothane.

Thirty patients (ASA I or II) requiring spine surgery under general anesthesia were studied. To induce hypotension, halothane 0.5 to 2.5% (n = 15) or nitroglycerin infusion (1-2 micrograms/kg/min) (n = 15) was used. The parameters studied were blood pressure, blood loss, operating time and recovery score. The systolic blood pressure was maintained between 80-100 mmHg during surgery in both the groups. The blood loss with nitroglycerin was significantly less (202 +/- 114 ml) than halothane group (602 +/- 312 ml). All the patients were alert at the end of surgery in the nitroglycerin group (recovery score 9.8 +/- 0.76) as against the halothane group (7.98 +/- 0.9 p < 0.01). Tachycardia or tachyphylaxis was not observed with nitroglycerin. This study suggests that continuous intravenous infusion of nitroglycerin is effective and safe in reducing blood loss and operating time during spine surgery.

Effect of closed mitral valvotomy on spirometric pulmonary function tests in mitral stenosis.

The effect of closed mitral valvotomy on the spirometric pulmonary functions was studied in 25 patients with mitral stenosis. The tests were performed before and after operation, the latter at varying intervals (4 to 6 weeks and 8 to 12 months). The preoperative values were considerably low. After 4 to 6 weeks following surgery, further significant reduction in Forced Vital Capacity (FVC) and Forced Expiratory Volume in one second (FEV1) was observed. This was ascribed to the residual healing process and thoracotomy pain. However, Forced expiratory flow rate during mid segment of FVC (FEF25-75%), which reflects obstruction in small airways, did not show any variation. There was improvement in all the above parameters, 8-12 months after surgery. This suggests definite reversibility in the pulmonary functions following valvotomy.