AN AUDIT OF THE CURRENT PRACTICES OF AIRWAY MANAGEMENT IN PATIENTS UNDERGOING SURGERY FOR ATLANTO-AXIAL DISLOCATION IN A SINGLE INSTITUTION.

BACKGROUND: Patients with atlanto axial dislocation (AAD) undergo stabilisation procedures under general anesthesia. Airway management in these patients is difficult as cervical spine movements during laryngoscopy can worsen spinal cord damage. Though multiple airway devices are used to intubate the trachea of these patients, there is no evidence of superiority of one technique over another. This retrospective study was designed to audit the practice of airway management during surgery for AAD over a 5 year period, starting from 2006 till 2011. METHODS: Patients' demographics, airway intervention techniques, types of surgical procedures, postoperative neurological and respiratory deterioration were recorded from the case files. Association between the types of airway interventions and the postoperative neurological and respiratory deterioration were analysed. RESULTS: One hundred and six patients underwent surgery for AAD during the study period. Sixty one percent of the patients were intubated with the help of a fiberoptic bronchoscope (FOB) and among them 15% received general anesthesia to facilitate FOB. Eighteen patients developed neurological deterioration and 15 patients developed respiratory weakness requiring ventilation postoperatively. Congenital AAD patients had higher chances for extubation at the end of surgery when intubated using FOB (p = 0.007). Among the AAD patients, female gender had significantly higher incidence of neurological deterioration compared to males. CONCLUSION: In the current audit, there was no correlation between the perioperative variables and postoperative respiratory and neurological deterioration. Most of the respiratory problems occurred between 2-5 postoperative days stressing the need for extended intensive postoperative monitoring of these patients.

Successful anesthetic management for microsurgical excision of ruptured cerebellar arteriovenous malformation with trapped endovascular microcatheter.

Microsurgical excision and good anesthetic management of arteriovenous malformation (AVM) that ruptures during endovascular embolization can ensure good outcome despite per-procedural catastrophe. This case report illustrates the successful anesthetic management of microsurgical excision of ruptured AVM with entrapped microcatheter and highlights the role of the anesthesiologist in careful monitoring of the patient's hemodynamic status and communicating any changes to the radiology team to facilitate check angiography to diagnose the intracranial complication. This case highlights the need for anticipating and defining a catastrophe plan in advance of each interventional neuroradiology procedure as complications are rapid and require good multidisciplinary communication to ensure safe and successful outcomes.

Morbidly obese patient with obstructive sleep apnoea for major spine surgery: An anaesthetic challenge.

Morbidly obese patients with clinical features of obstructive sleep apnoea can present a myriad of challenges to the anaesthesiologists which must be addressed to minimise the perioperative risks. Initiation of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy early in the pre- and post-operative period along with appropriate anaesthetic planning is of paramount importance in such patients. This case report emphasises the usefulness of CPAP therapy, even for a short duration, to minimise morbidity, improve recovery and hasten early discharge from the hospital after major surgery.

Delayed incidental diagnosis of postoperative extradural hematoma following ventriculoperitoneal shunt.

Ventriculo peritoneal (VP) shunt uncommonly complicates as intracranial hematomas which can still occur in patients with a functioning VP shunt leading to a delay in the diagnosis which can be extremely dangerous and lead to adverse outcomes. We report a case of an incidental diagnosis of delayed post-operative EDH following VP shunt in an young adult patient with a right cerebellar lesion and highlight the need for meticulous post-operative neurological examination.

Dräger Fabius GS Ventilator Failure: An Unusual Cause.

Understanding the functioning of modern anesthesia workstations is very important because workstation failures in the intraoperative period may place the patient at risk of perioperative hypoxia and lead to unnecessary anxiety and confusion among anesthesia care providers. We present and simulate a critical event leading to Dräger Fabius GS ventilator failure.

A Comparative Study of Induction, Maintenance and Recovery Characteristics of Sevoflurane and Halothane Anaesthesia in Pediatric Patients (6 months to 6 years).

UNLABELLED: PATIENTS #ENTITYSTARTX00026; METHODS: In a randomized , double blind clinical study, we studied 30 children, aged 6 months to 6 years, to compare halothane and sevoflurane anaesthesia in patients undergoing short surgical procedures under general anaesthesia. All the patients were premedicated with atropine 0.02mg kg(-1)and midazolam 0.1mg kg(-1)body weight intravenously and received inhalation induction using nitrous oxide in oxygen supplemented with either halothane (maximum inspired concentration of 5%) or sevoflurane (maximum inspired concentration of 8%). Induction was by inhalation of increasing concentrations of sevoflurane (1%) or halothane (0.5%) in the vaporizing setting after every three breaths of the patient. RESULTS: Time to loss of eyelash reflex and tracheal intubation was more rapid using sevoflurane. Cardiac arrhythmias were significantly more frequent during halothane than sevoflurane anaesthesia. Psychomotor recovery was more rapid after sevoflurane anaesthesia. Children who received sevoflurane had comparatively less nausea and vomiting and the incidence of clinically important side effects was significantly less with sevoflurane anaesthesia. CONCLUSION: We conclude that induction with sevoflurane in nitrous oxide and oxygen leads to fast loss of consciousness and provides ideal conditions for managing the airway without supplemental opioids or muscle relaxants with haemodynamic stability and is therefore a reasonable alternative to halothane for paediatric patients.