• Takuma Kishimoto, Takamori Kanazawa, Tatsuya Kawasaki, Ikuya Ueta, Susam Park, and Yoh Horimoto.
• Department of Pediatric Critical Care, Shizuoka Children's Hospital, 860 Urushiyama, Aoi-ku, Shizuoka-shi, Shizuoka, 420-8660, Japan. takumaroz@gmail.com.
• J Anesth. 2016 Feb 1; 30 (1): 20-5.

PurposePalatoplasty carries a high risk of airway obstruction as a postoperative complication. Since 2007, the protocol in our hospital has been to leave an endotracheal tube in place after surgery while the patient is moved to the pediatric intensive care unit. Extubation is then performed after achievement of hemostasis and recovery of consciousness. We compared the cases over the 5-year periods before and after the introduction of this revised postsurgical management plan to investigate its effect on postoperative complications.MethodsThis was a retrospective cohort study involving a single pediatric hospital. The subjects were 199 children aged 1-3 years, who underwent palatoplasty between January 2002 and July 2012. Changes in the incidence rates of postoperative complications were statistically examined.ResultsThere were significantly more postoperative complications among the patients who were extubated in the operating room than among those extubated in the intensive care unit (operating room group, 22/94 cases; intensive care unit group, 10/105 cases; P < 0.01). Serious complications, such as hypoxemia and airway obstruction, also occurred more frequently in the operating room group.ConclusionExtubation in an intensive care unit was possibly associated with a reduction in postoperative complications.

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