Paediatric anaesthesia
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Paediatric anaesthesia · Nov 2009
Anesthesia and perioperative medical management of children with spinal muscular atrophy.
To describe the perioperative medical care, anesthetic considerations, and the risk of postanesthetic respiratory failure in patients with pediatric spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). ⋯ Perioperative care can be provided for children with SMA safely and effectively with total intravenous or inhaled anesthetics along with the judicious use of opioids to improve patient comfort without increased morbidity. Further prospective studies of standardized anesthetic and perioperative respiratory medical management in this population are required to minimize the decompensation of tenuous preoperative respiratory function.