Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 16, 2025
Anesthesia and Intubation of Preadolescent Mouse Pups for Cardiothoracic Surgery
Published on: June 2, 2022
Anaesthesia in SARS-CoV-2 infected children - single-centre experience. A case-control study
Tomasz Jarymowicz1, Artur Baranowski1,2, Justyna Pietrzyk1
1Department of Pediatric Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, Pediatric Teaching Hospital, University Clinical Center Warsaw Medical University, Warsaw, Poland.
Insights
General anesthesia is safe for children with SARS-CoV-2 infection, with low complication rates. While some desaturations and longer hospital stays occurred, overall risks were similar to uninfected children.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Anesthesiology
- Infectious Diseases
- Critical Care Medicine
Background:
- While SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) often presents mildly in children, anesthetic implications remain a concern.
- Limited data suggests increased anesthetic complication risks for SARS-CoV-2 infected patients.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the safety of general anesthesia in pediatric patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection undergoing urgent procedures.
- To compare anesthetic complication rates between SARS-CoV-2 infected and non-infected children.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective case-control study of SARS-CoV-2 infected (n=58) and negative (n=198) children requiring anesthesia for urgent procedures.
- Data collected on primary (respiratory complications, desaturation, ventilation) and secondary (hospital stay, thrombotic/cardiac events, ICU admission, death) endpoints.
- Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified risk factors for complications.
Main Results:
- Overall complication rates were low and not significantly different between SARS-CoV-2 infected and control groups.
- SARS-CoV-2 infected children experienced a higher frequency of desaturation during awakening and longer hospitalization.
- Patient's physical status and procedure duration were key factors influencing complication risk.
Conclusions:
- General anesthesia can be safely administered to pediatric patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection.
- While minor differences exist, the study supports the safety of anesthetic management in this population.
Introduction:
Although manifestation of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children is gene-rally mild or asymptomatic, anaesthetic implications of the infection in children are still a matter of concern. Single reports suggest that patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection are at higher risk of anaesthetic complications.
Material And Methods:
We performed a retrospective, case control study analysing the risk of general anaesthesia in SARS-CoV-2 infected children admitted to a tertiary paediatric university hospital for the purpose of urgent procedures requiring anaesthesia between April 1st and September 30 th , 2021. The control group consisted of SARS-CoV-2 negative children consecutively anaesthetised for the same reasons during the first month of observation. Our hypothesis was: general anaesthesia can be safely performed in SARS-CoV-2 infected children. Study endpoints: primary - anaesthetic respiratory complications (bronchospasm, laryngospasm, intraoperative desaturation below 94%, desaturation below 94% after awakening, unplanned postoperative mechanical ventilation); secondary - hospital length of stay, thrombotic, cardiac, haemorrhagic events, ICU admission, deaths during hospitalisation.
Results:
The examined group consisted of 58 SARS-CoV-2 infected children, the matched control group of 198 patients. The rate of complications in both groups was very low, with no significant difference between the groups. The only differences observed were a higher frequency of desaturations in the awakening period and longer time of hospitalisation in SARS-CoV-2 infected patients. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that physical status of the patient and duration of the procedure were the main factors influencing the risk of complications.
Conclusions:
In our experience anaesthesia of SARS-CoV-2 infected children can be safely performed.
Related Concept Videos
01:24General Anesthesia: Overview
General anesthesia induces unconsciousness in the whole body, while the others target specific areas or sensations. It is administered to minimize adverse effects, maintain...
01:29Local Anesthetics: Clinical Application as Epidural Anesthesia
Since epidural anesthetics can be infused through an epidural catheter, all types of drugs, including short-acting ones, can be administered. Chloroprocaine and lidocaine are examples of short and long-duration anesthetics, respectively. Bupivacaine...