• U Kiran, M Choudhury, N Saxena, and P Kapoor.
• Dept. of Cardiac Anaesthesia, Cardiothoracic Centre, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi.
• Acta Anaesthesiol Scand. 2000 Mar 1;44(3):351-3.

AbstractMyasthenia gravis is a challenging situation for anaesthesiologists due to its neuromuscular involvement. The main concerns are respiratory muscle weakness and side effects due to a heavy dose of anticholinesterases. This limits the use of sedatives, hypnotics and muscle relaxants. Inhalational anaesthetics are best suited. We describe our experience with sevoflurane as a sole anaesthetic in a child having juvenile-type myasthenia gravis with thymoma, who underwent thymectomy by midsternal incision. Very smooth and short duration of induction (35 s) and easy intubation within 60 s without use of muscle relaxant were the remarkable features. Sevoflurane in oxygen and nitrous oxide (MAC=0.5-0.7) was used for maintenance of anaesthesia. Recovery was smooth and fast with no residual respiratory insufficiency. Hence we found sevoflurane to be a highly suitable agent for thymectomy in mysthenia gravis.

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