Management of general anaesthesia in infants and children with a history of idiopathic pulmonary haemorrhage.

Abstract

Idiopathic pulmonary haemorrhage in infants is a rare disorder that is endemic to metropolitan Cleveland, Ohio. Since 1993, 32 infants with this disorder were diagnosed and treated at our institution, one of them after developing pulmonary haemorrhage during induction of anaesthesia. Of this population, five patients have undergone a total of 10 general anaesthetics at some time after the initial diagnosis of pulmonary haemorrhage. We performed a retrospective chart review of these cases to identify whether any risk factors for anaesthesia-related morbidity were present, to review the anaesthetic technique and to identify morbidity related to residual underlying pulmonary disease. No patients experienced any anaesthesia related complication nor any perioperative respiratory problem. These data may be useful to anaesthesiologists in other geographical locations since this disorder has been reported in other parts of the USA, and presumably may exist in other areas of the world.