Risk factors for apnea after infant inguinal hernia repair

[Caudal block and light sevoflurane mask anesthesia in high-risk infants: an audit of 98 cases]

OBJECTIVE

In order to reduce the risk of postoperative apnoea, awake spinal anaesthesia or awake caudal anaesthesia are recommended for hernia surgery in newborn babies and former premature infants aged less than 60 weeks of amenorrhoea. However, additional sedation is sometimes necessary. Our working hypothesis was that a general anaesthesia with a face mask (sevoflurane) with no opiates nor neuromuscular blocking agents, maintaining the infant's spontaneous breathing and combined with a caudal anaesthesia, could provide a safe and effective alternative.

STUDY DESIGN

The epidemiological and technical data about the patient and the anaesthesia, as well as any per- and postoperative complications, were collected prospectively and analysed retrospectively.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Ninety-eight infants undergoing hernia surgery were included during the period from 2003 to 2008.

RESULTS

Caudal anaesthesia proved successful at first attempt in 69% of the infants (term or premature). Three attempts were needed in 8% of the infants born at term and 2% of the infants born prematurely. One failure was recorded. Seven patients presented one episode of peroperative apnoea; they were easily taken care of by means of brief face mask ventilation. The follow-up of these seven infants did not reveal any reappearance of postoperative apnoea/bradypnoea.

CONCLUSION

The technique proposed is an effective alternative to the awake locoregional anaesthesia techniques: it provides excellent conditions for surgery and presents similar perioperative morbidity and risk of postoperative apnoea.

Pediatric regional anesthesia: what is the current safety record?

The use of regional anesthetics, whether as adjuncts, primary anesthetics or postoperative analgesia, is increasingly common in pediatric practice. Data on safety remain limited because of the paucity of very large-scale prospective studies that are necessary to detect low incidence events, although several studies either have been published or have reported preliminary results. This paper will review the data on complications and risk in pediatric regional anesthesia. Information currently available suggests that regional blockade, when performed properly, carries a very low risk of morbidity and mortality in appropriately selected infants and children.

Comparison of awake spinal with awake caudal anesthesia in preterm and ex-preterm infants for herniotomy

BACKGROUND

Spinal anesthesia (SA) is widely used for awake regional anesthesia in ex-preterm infants scheduled for herniotomy. Awake caudal anesthesia (CA) is suggested as an alternative approach for these patients and type of surgery. The aim of this study was to compare efficacy and complications of the two different techniques.

METHODS

Two historical populations of 575 ex-preterm infants undergoing herniotomy under awake SA (n = 339; 1998-2001) and under awake CA (n = 236; 2001-2009) were investigated. Data are compared using t-test and chi-square tests (P < 0.05).

RESULTS

The SA group consisted of 339 patients, they were born after 32.0 (3.3) weeks of gestation on average with a mean birth weight of 1691 g (725). The CA group consisted of 236 patients born after 32.1 weeks (3.7) with a mean birth weight of 1617 g (726). At the time of operation, the total age was 41.37 (3.6) and 41.28 (4.0), respectively, for SA and CA patients, and the corresponding weights were 3326 (1083) g and 3267 (931) g for SA and CA patients, respectively. For SA, significantly more puncture attempts were needed (1.83 vs 1.44, P < 0.001). Surgery was performed under pure regional anesthesia in 85% (SA) and 90.1% (CA) (ns). A change to general anesthesia was necessary in 7.7% (SA) and 3.9% (CA) (ns). Overall, intra- and postoperative complications were not statistically different.

CONCLUSIONS

Caudal anesthesia was shown to be technically less difficult than SA and to have a higher success rate. Its application as awake regional anesthesia technique in these patients seems more appropriate than SA.