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COVID-19 is mainly considered an “adult pandemic,” but it also has strong implications for children and consequently for pediatric anesthesia. Despite the lethality of SARS-CoV-2 infection being directly correlated with age, children have equally experienced the negative impacts of this pandemic.
Due to the high prevalence of asthma and general airway reactivity, anesthesiologists frequently encounter children with asthma or asthma-like symptoms. This review focuses on the epidemiology, the underlying pathophysiology, and perioperative management of children with airway reactivity, including controlled and uncontrolled asthma.
General anesthesia is associated with development of pulmonary atelectasis. Children are more vulnerable to the development and adverse effects of atelectasis. We review the physiology and risk factors for the development of atelectasis in pediatric patients under general anesthesia.
Various developmental aspects of respiratory physiology put infants and young children at an increased risk of respiratory failure, which is associated with a higher rate of critical incidents during anesthesia.
Britta Regli-von Ungern-Sternberg AM FAHMS MD, PhD, DEAA, FANZA Chair of Paediatric anaesthesia, University of Western Australia; Consultant
Britta Regli-von Ungern-Sternberg AM FAHMS MD, PhD, DEAA, FANZA Chair of Paediatric anaesthesia, University of Western Australia; Consultant
The paediatric population has a low adherence and acceptance rate of unpalatable medicines. This study aimed to determine whether eating chocolate immediately prior to drug administration would help to mask the bitter taste of a drug. The difference in taste masking efficacy between white, milk and dark chocolate was a secondary measure outcome.
When performing computerized tomography chest imaging in children, obtaining high quality, motion-free images is important in the accurate diagnosis of underlying pathology. General anesthesia is associated with the development of atelectasis, which can impair accurate diagnosis by obscuring or altering the appearance of the lung parenchyma or airways.
Respiratory adverse events in adults with COVID-19 undergoing general anaesthesia can be life-threatening. However, there remains a knowledge gap about respiratory adverse events in children with COVID-19. We created an international observational registry to collect airway management outcomes in children with COVID-19 who were having a general anaesthetic.
Difficult airway management in children is associated with significant morbidity. This narrative review on error traps in airway management aims to highlight the common pitfalls and proposes solutions to optimize best practices for pediatric difficult airway management. We have categorized common errors of pediatric difficult airway management into three main error traps.