Anaesthesia for radiation therapy - Gliwice experience

General anaesthesia is rarely applied during fractionated radiotherapy with the exception of unco-operative patients. We performed a retrospective study to inform our current practice in anaesthesia procedures for radiotherapy application in children, brachytherapy and intraoperative radiation. The records of anaesthetized radiotherapy patients between January 2000 and September 2005 were analyzed. We analysed demographic data, type and localisation of neoplasm , radiotherapy data, type of anaesthesia and anaesthesia - related complications. In order to provide safe and efficient anaesthesia outside the Department of Anaesthesiology, we designed a mobile anaesthesia workstation. In total we performed 739 anaesthesia procedures: 267 in 16 children, 321 in 284 brachytherapy patients, and 151 as a part of intraoperative radiotherapy. Children age ranged from 2 - 8 years (median 4.6). All were given midazolam and atropine, then thiopental or ketamine. Neither muscle relaxants, nor propofol were used. Brachytherapy patients underwent: spinal block in 190 cases, general anaesthesia in 115, and deep sedation in 16 cases. General anaesthesia was inducted by propofol, followed by etomidate, thiopental and fentanyl. For spinal block the patients were given hyperbaric bupivacaine and fentanyl. Deep sedation was performed with midazolam and fentanyl, and thiopental or propofol when needed. Intraoperative radiotherapy was applied immediately after breast conserving surgery. No serious complications in all 739 anaesthesia procedures occurred. In conclusion we demonstrated the feasibility and safety of anaesthesia applied in our radiotherapy patients. The custom designed mobile anaesthesia workstation allowed us to provide safe and efficient anaesthesia in any place outside the Department of Anaesthesiology.