Anesthetic Management of a Patient With Multiple Sclerosis.

A 54-year-old woman diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) at the age of 19 years was scheduled to undergo temporomandibular joint mobilization. She was currently in a remission phase from her MS but with persistent sequelae, including impaired eyesight and muscle weakness of the limbs. In addition, the blood vessels in her upper limbs were compromised by the formation of internal shunts secondary to vascular prosthesis replacements for plasma exchange therapy in MS. After a previous joint mobilization surgery, her temporomandibular joint developed adhesions with resultant trismus. One of the adverse effects of general anesthesia can be exacerbations of MS symptoms. Minimizing mental and physical stress caused by surgical and anesthetic procedures and maintenance of stable body temperature are important considerations. Awake intubation was performed under sedation with midazolam and fentanyl. After intubation, anesthesia was induced with propofol, remifentanil, and rocuronium. Maintenance of anesthesia was achieved with oxygen-N2O-sevoflurane, remifentanil, fentanyl, and rocuronium. In this case, no adverse events occurred intraoperatively. However, the patient experienced lingering weakness of the limbs in the postoperative period, and activities of daily living of the patient were affected.

Anesthetic Management of a Patient With Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.

We describe the case of a 37-year-old woman who had been diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) 4 years earlier and was scheduled to undergo removal of synovial chondromatosis in the temporomandibular joint. EDS is a heritable connective tissue disorder and has 6 types. In this case, the patient was classified into EDS hypermobility type. The major clinical feature of this type is joint hypermobility. The patient had sprain or subluxation of the elbows and ankles and dislocation of the knees. Anticipated problems during general anesthesia would be affected by the disease type. For this patient, extra attention was directed to positional injury-induced neuropathy and articular luxation, cutaneous injuries, injuries related to intubation and ventilation, and postoperative pain. Anesthesia was induced with propofol, remifentanil, and rocuronium and maintained with oxygen-air-desflurane, propofol, remifentanil, fentanyl, and rocuronium. In this case, the patient was safely managed without adverse events.