Anaesthesia and mitochondrial disease

Mitochondrial diseases, or encephalomyopathies, are an uncommon, heterogeneous group of disorders with variable clinical course and presentation. Many of these patients present for surgery, or undergo anaesthesia in the course of investigation of their illness. Unfortunately, little information exists on their management in anaesthetic texts and the literature. We report on the anaesthetic management of a paediatric patient with mitochondrial disease, and briefly discuss the pathophysiology and anaesthetic implications of these disorders.