Anaesthesia and myotonia--an Australian experience

The purpose of this audit was to retrospectively examine the anaesthetic technique and perioperative complications among adult patients with confirmed myotonic dystrophy who presented for surgery at Royal Perth Hospital. A total of 18 general anaesthetics, two spinal anaesthetics, one conscious sedation and six eye blocks were performed. No deaths and no myotonic episodes were described despite the use of a variety of techniques, including the administration of succinylcholine to three patients. The only patient to experience postoperative complications was severely unwell preoperatively and underwent upper abdominal surgery. The audit revealed an overall complication rate of 5.5% of general anaesthetics or 3.8% of all anaesthetics in this patient population.