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Intervention steps for treating laryngospasm in pediatric patients

Laura L Burgoyne1, Doralina L Anghelescu

  • 1Division of Anesthesiology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105-2794, USA. laura.burgoyne@stjude.org

Paediatric Anaesthesia
|March 5, 2008
PubMed

Insights

Laryngospasm in children occurred at a rate of 1/1000 anesthetics. Treatment involved airway repositioning, positive pressure, anesthesia deepening, muscle relaxants, and intubation.

Area of Science:

  • Anesthesiology
  • Pediatric Critical Care

Background:

  • Laryngospasm is a serious anesthesia complication, more frequent in children.
  • Optimal treatment strategies for pediatric laryngospasm lack clinical data.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To characterize interventions for laryngospasm in pediatric patients.
  • To analyze the timing and management of laryngospasm episodes.

Main Methods:

  • Reviewed institutional quality improvement data (July 1999-December 2002).
  • Examined patient records for laryngospasm timing, airway management, and interventions.

Main Results:

  • Identified 21 cases of laryngospasm (1/1000) in 21,452 anesthetics.
  • Episodes occurred during emergence (47.6%), induction (28.6%), and maintenance (23.8%).
  • Interventions included airway repositioning, CPAP, muscle relaxants (47.6%), and intubation (23.8%).

Conclusions:

  • The study reports the largest single-institution data on pediatric laryngospasm.
  • A treatment algorithm included CPAP, anesthesia deepening, muscle relaxation, and intubation.
Abstract

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