Anaesthesia for Kartagener's syndrome

Kartagener's syndrome is a hereditary syndrome involving a combination of dextrocardia (situs inversus), bronchiectasis and sinusitis, transmitted as an autosomal recessive trait. We describe a patient who had three anaesthetics over a period of a few months. Discussion relates to anaesthetic considerations in the syndrome and to recent findings relating to the molecular mechanisms of left-right development.