Practical Tips for Managing Pediatric Anesthesia

Abstract

Understanding the physiological and anatomical differences between pediatric and adult patients is crucial in delivering safe anesthesia to pediatric patients. Examples of basic respiratory differences include prominent occiput, an oversized tongue, the larynx being more anteriorly cephalad, alveolar ventilation is much higher in neonates, and type I diaphragmatic muscle fibers are less, so they can get fatigued easier. These differences slowly disappear as the child grows, and the rate of disappearance of these differences differs from one child to another; thus, every pediatric patient’s anesthetic plan must be individually tailored and titrated to adapt to every child-specific need.

In Anesthesiology, it is essential to realize the three distinct phases of care: Preoperative, Intraoperative, and postoperative. The Intraoperative phase of care contains three more sub-phases of care: Induction, Maintenance, and emergence. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss how to deliver safe anesthesia to the pediatric patient population along the three different phases of care.