ABSTRACT
Awake craniotomies for tumor resections allow for the preservation of eloquent cortex; however, they are high-risk surgeries that require careful patient selection and meticulous anesthetic management. Patients with significant preoperative language deficits may be unable to participate in intraoperative language mapping, increasing the risk of a failed surgery. Furthermore, anesthetic agents given for sedation and analgesia during the initial portion of the surgery may exacerbate existing language deficits. We present a case of an asleep-awake-asleep craniotomy for a left temporal lobe glioma using intraoperative neuronavigation, 5-aminolevulinic acid fluorescence, and awake speech mapping for a patient with a significant preoperative language deficit, for whom sedation had to be meticulously titrated to optimize intraoperative language testing. Anesthetic titration was aided by bispectral index monitoring, ultimately allowing successful awake speech mapping and tumor resection.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Although there is a wide breadth of literature on glucose homeostasis in infants, standardization of perioperative hypoglycemia diagnosis and management is lacking. AIMS: Survey of academic pediatric anesthesiology departments across the USA to evaluate institutional policies regarding the perioperative use of glucose containing solutions in infants less than 6 months of age. METHODS: A questionnaire was sent to 20 United States university affiliated academic pediatric anesthesiology departments. RESULTS: The responses suggest that, in the centers surveyed, glucose administration in infants is largely practitioner dependent. Two respondents (10%) claim to have a departmental policy regarding glucose administration in infants less than 6 months of age. In premature infants, 75% of respondents administer glucose. When administering glucose, 75% of physicians surveyed replete infants at their maintenance intravenous fluid rate. There was discrepancy among practitioners regarding initiation of hypoglycemia treatment, 35% treat infants at a blood glucose level of 70 mg/dl, 30% at BG 60 mg/dl, 25% at 50 mg/dl, and 10% are unsure. DISCUSSION: This survey highlights the lack of consensus, at least among pediatric anesthesiologists working in US academic centers, regarding blood glucose management in infants less than 6 months of age. There is a need to define the indications for using glucose containing solutions in infants during the perioperative period, their ideal content, the appropriate thresholds for hypo- and hyperglycemia as well as the optimal point-of care glucose monitoring intervals.