Airway Management in Neonates with Occipital Encephalocele: Easy Does It

Abstract

To the Editor: Management of the airway of neonates presenting for surgical repair of a large occipital encephalocele may require more than one person to support the body and the head and to avoid pressure on the encephalocele sac.1,2 We present a simple alternative using readily available foam-cushion devices (Figs. 1 and 2). With this approach, the child can be positioned supine, only one person is needed to manage the airway, and pressure on the sac is easily avoided.Figure 1.: Platform build with blankets and foam-cushion.Figure 2.: Neonate with large encephalocele positioned supine allowing for easy airway management and protection of fragile encephalocele sac.Zenaide Quezado, MD Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine Children’s National Medical Center George Washington University, Washington, DC Department of Anesthesia and Surgical Services NIH Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health Bethesda, Maryland [email protected] Julia C. Finkel, MD Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine Children’s National Medical Center George Washington University, Washington, DC