Anesthetic Management of Hashimoto's Encephalopathy Presenting for Spine Surgery

Hashimoto's encephalopathy (HE) is a rare neuroendocrine disorder, and there are no reports regarding anesthetic implications in a patient diagnosed with HE. These patients can have a plethora of systemic manifestations involving cardiovascular, respiratory, renal, gastrointestinal, hematologic, and central nervous systems. Once diagnosed, meticulous preoperative assessment is essential to rule out systemic involvement and to reduce the perioperative morbidity. Perioperative steroid therapy, neuromonitoring in the perioperative period, opioid free analgesia, and avoidance of nephrotoxic drugs are of paramount importance in the management of such patients. Awareness of the clinical condition and extreme vigilance can detect relapses in the perioperative period. Thus, a meticulous preoperative assessment, balanced anesthesia, perioperative neuromonitoring, and steroid therapy are essential to reduce the perioperative morbidity.