04b_13_13 Anaesthesia for a Child With Cerebral Palsy

Anaesthesia for a Child With Cerebral Palsy
Session Overview
Description
This session will outline the principles of anaesthesia for children with cerebral palsy presenting for elective surgery. It will cover how the severity of cerebral palsy directly affects the techniques chosen

Learning Objectives
By the end of this session you will be able to:

• List the spectrum of disabilities that may be classified as cerebral palsy
• Assess the patient with respect to the specific features of cerebral palsy that impact on anaesthesia
• Choose the appropriate anaesthetic taking into account the complications in this group of patients
• Select an appropriate analgesic regimen and appropriate postoperative monitoring for tendon transfer / release

Prerequisites
Before commencing this session you should complete the following:

• Module 04b/Developmental pharmacology/Opioids in Paediatrics (001-0408)
• Module 04b/Analgesia/Paediatric caudal block (001-0434)

Cerebral palsy is common and its associated problems frequently present for surgery. You will come across patients with cerebral palsy frequently during any paediatric anaesthetic attachment.

The challenges for successful anaesthesia and pain control in cerebral palsy often require a multimodal approach, this patient group has significant perioperative morbidity.

Surprisingly for such a common condition, one rarely finds two patients the same. This session will cover the problems and solutions appropriate to the patients with severe cerebral palsy, the principles will apply to all patients but the practicalities may be quite different in patients who have mild symptoms.