Anesthetic management of a patient with β-thalassemia intermedia undergoing splenectomy: a case report

Anaesthetic management of beta thalassemia major with hypersplenism for splenectomy in pediatric age group: Report of four cases

Beta thalassemia is the most common cause of hemolytic anemia in India. Hereby we are reporting four cases of beta thalassemia major aged between 5 and 10 years posted for splenectomy over a period of 2 months. These patients were on repeated blood transfusions since the day of diagnosis, and two patients had a history of cardiac failure. In addition to emphasizing the anesthetic challenges, the purpose of reporting such cases is to raise the awareness of the disease and prevention of the same by aggressive screening and prenatal diagnosis.

Anaesthetic management of a patient with Eisenmenger syndrome and β-thalassemia major for splenectomy

We describe for the first time, the perioperative care of a patient with a rare combination of Eisenmenger syndrome with β-thalassemia major presenting for splenectomy. Patients with Eisenmenger syndrome have polycythemia because of chronic hypoxia but our patient was anaemic and had thrombocytopenia because of thalassemia major. The management of such a case can be challenging for any anaesthesiologist because of severe V/Q mismatch (high shunt fraction and restrictive lung disease because of hypersplenism), decreased oxygen carrying capacity (anaemia) and increased risk of haemorrhage (thrombocytopenia), along with the potential increase in intracardiac shunt during anaesthesia.