Anesthetic approach to the Dyke-Davidoff-Masson syndrome--a case report

The so-called Dyke-Davidoff-Masson syndrome (DDMS) is a rare disorder of cerebral hemiatrophy. The clinical presentation may consist of facial asymmetry, contralateral atrophy (including the trunk, and the extremities) and hemiparesis, speech difficulties, mental retardation, and epilepsy. Because it involves multiple systems, especially problem of the airway, occult myopathy, and seizure disorder, anesthesia for such a patient is a challenge to any anesthesiologist. However, there are no clinical reports which concern the anesthetic management of such patients in the literature. We herein report a 5-year-old girl, a sufferer of DDMS, scheduled for burr trephination. The successful anesthetic management is brought forward with highlights of inference from the experience.