Anaesthesia in cases of pediatric cardiac catheterization procedures

Objective: A variety of interventions are performed for diagnosis and treatment of pediatric cardiology cases. Among these interventions, there are many factors related to perioperative cardiac arrest such as young age, more than one accompanying morbidity, and requirements for emergency surgery. In this study, we aimed to present our experience of complications and anesthesia outside the surgery for pediatric cardiology cases. Method: Between 2000-2014, anesthesia administration outside the operating room for pediatric cardiology cases was retrospectively investigated. The interventions, age, weight, administered anesthesia methods and complications were recorded. Results: Data from 1535 pediatric cardiology cases with the youngest 3 days and the oldest 17 years was analyzed. In this series complications were laryngospasm in 3 patients, desaturation in 18 patients and initial sedation followed by general anesthesia in 5 patients, with no mortality or morbidity observed. Conclusion: During pediatric cardiology interventions, the causes of complications related to anesthesia are not fully known. It is important to better understand the underlying causes and to develop preventive strategies. Due to the cases' ages, weights, cardiologic pathologies, shunts, cyanotic heart diseases, administered anesthesia method, allergic reactions linked to contrast agents and hemorrhage during the procedure, a multidisciplinary approach in the preoperative period with good description and knowledge of the patient and their characteristics and monitoring in the peroperative period requires an experienced anesthesia team to administer these procedures.