[General anesthesia in infants]

It is generally accepted, that the progress in surgical treatment of congenital malformation is closely related to the progress in highly-specialised methods of newborn anaesthesia. The safe methods of anaesthesia have to be adapted to anatomical and physiological peculiarities of the earliest days of life as well as to different reaction to drugs and anaesthetics. The preoperative preparation in newborns used to be often very short, because most of the problems of the neonatal period are emergency surgical interventions and there is no time for treatment even of the serious disturbances of basic physiological functions. The purpose of this study was to estimate methods of general anaesthesia in newborns, which have been introduced in the Anaesthesiology Department of the National Research Institute of Mother and Child. The main element of these methods was general anaesthesia with muscle relaxants and controlled ventilation as a routine. The estimation was based on general analysis of 10 years practice when these methods of anaesthesia were used. During this time 515 anaesthesias to 408 both-sex newborns were given (Tab. I, Fig. 1). 85% of anaesthetized newborns were operated because of congenital malformations (Tab. I); 46% of operations were performed during their first week of life, 21% were operated in first 24 hours of life, mostly as an emergency (Fig. 3). 10% of operations were performed is prematures (body weight below 2500 g) (Fig. 4). The "routine" anaesthesia was given in 82% cases. Awake intubation in unpremedicated newborns was performed. Anaesthesia was maintained with nitrous oxide-oxygen mixture (1:1 or 2:1). D-tubocurarine in 95% of cases was used. The initial dose 0,5 with matures and 0,25 mg with premature babies was used. If necessary supplementary doses were given. During anaesthesia, intermittent positive pressure ventilation (IPPV) with frequency at least 60/min. was used. During this ventilation, hyperventilation and positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) were obtained. Precordial stetoscope and thermometer probe was used as a routine. In some special cases eCG, end-expired CO2 (capnography), pletysmography were also recorded; blood gas analyses were checked. All intra- and postoperative complications as well as postoperative mortality have been analysed in details. During 3,3% of operations some complications had been observed. The total incidence of early psotoeprative complications was 20%. In this group the most frequent were respiratory complications (16,1%). Serious disturbances in pulmonary gas exchange during operation and early postoperative period were not found.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)