Perioperative Care for Pediatric Patients Undergoing Lung Surgery: Retrospective Single Center Review

Procedures involving lung surgery in the pediatric population are relatively uncommon and tend to be centralized in a limited number of institutions. Anesthesia literature is also sparse.

To have a clear overview of frequency, underlying pathologies, ICU and hospital stay, anesthetic techniques, one lung ventilation, and perioperative analgesia.

We conducted a retrospective review in a single-center tertiary hospital, from January 2014 to 2023. We included children aged 0-16 years who underwent major lung surgery and received anesthesia managed by the pediatric anesthesia team. Patients with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, esophageal atresia, or those undergoing surgery for pectus excavatum were excluded. Our main outcome measures include the type of underlying pathology and surgical procedure, ICU and hospital stay, methods of one-lung ventilation, source of perioperative analgesia, and the incidence of (postoperative) complications.

We included 73 patients, 55% male and 45% female. The median age was 2.8 years and the median weight was 12.9 kg. Congenital pulmonary airway malformation was diagnosed in 43%, and 45% underwent a (partial) lobectomy. The proportion of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery was comparable to that of open thoracotomy. One-lung ventilation (OLV) was used in 81%, primarily facilitated by a bronchial blocker. Epidural catheterization with ropivacaine for perioperative pain management was used in 71%. The proportion of patients receiving intravenous morphine on postoperative Days 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 was 40%, 34%, 19%, 15%, and 11%, respectively. Insufficient pain control was reported in 14%. 70% were admitted to the ICU for one night. The average length of hospital stay was 8 days.

We addressed the anesthetic care of pediatric lung surgery procedures. OLV was required in the majority of the population and a bronchial blocker was the preferred method. Epidural analgesia was the preferred choice to tackle perioperative pain.