Epidemiology and complications of anaesthesia in the French centres that participated to NECTARINE: A secondary analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Neonatal and infant anaesthesia are associated with a high risk of perioperative complications. The aim of the current study was to describe those risks in France using the French data from the NECTARINE study. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Data from the French centres that participated to the NECTARINE study were analysed. The primary goal of the study was the description of patients' characteristics, procedures and perioperative management and their comparison with the results of the European NECTARINE study. Secondary outcomes were the description of major perioperative complications and death. RESULTS: Overall, 926 procedures collected in 15 centres (all teaching hospitals) were analysed. Comparison between the French and European NECTARINE cohorts found few differences related to patients' characteristics and procedures. The rate of interventions for critical events (respiratory, haemodynamic, and metabolic) was similar between the two cohorts. Near-infrared spectroscopy monitoring was used in 12% of procedures. Nearly none of the thresholds for these interventions met the published standards. By day 30, complications (respiratory, haemodynamic, metabolic, renal, and liver failure) and death were observed in 14.4% [95% CI 11.6-16.4]% and 1.8% [95% CI 1.1-2.9] of cases, respectively. DISCUSSION: Although the health status of the patients in the French cohort was less severe, procedures, management and postoperative complications and mortality rates were similar to the European cohort. However, thresholds for interventions were often inadequate in both cohorts. Efforts should be undertaken to improve the knowledge and use of new monitoring devices in this population.

Anesthesia and sleep apnea.

Due to its low rate of diagnosis, in the general population over half of those experiencing obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are unaware that they have the condition. However, any acute medical event may exacerbate OSA and could have serious health consequences. In this context the management of the perioperative period, from anesthesia through the surgery itself and into the postoperative period, is more problematic for patients with sleep disordered breathing than for others. There is prolific literature in this area although large randomized trials are few due to the high sample size needed and possible ethical difficulties of withholding OSA treatment in the perioperative period. In 2014 the American Society of Anesthesiologists published an updated set of recommendations to guide OSA management during the perioperative period. In this present review we provide an overview of the different issues that practitioners face with regard to OSA, from the initial consultation with the anesthesiologist to the extended post-operative period. There is considerable evidence that OSA patients are at high risk of perioperative complications, though the inherent risks from OSA per se and its comorbidities remain difficult to discern. Nevertheless, appropriate screening and management allow clinicians to minimize OSA associated risk.