When can we give general anesthesia to an infant with anticipated difficult airway management caused by facial vascular malformation?

Abstract

A 13-month-old infant weighing 8.3 kg with a height of 72.3 cm visited our hospital for surgical resection of facial vascular malformation detected at birth. Because we anticipated the patient would have difficult airway management and massive perioperative bleeding, we postponed surgery to discuss the appropriate timing and general anesthesia approach with anesthesiologists at other institutions, while explaining the risk of general anesthesia and bleeding to the parents. When the patient was 21 months old and 10 kg, he started bleeding while undressing, when his lips touched his clothes. Because the cricothyroid membrane puncture kit (QuickTrach Child™ (VBM Medizintechnik GmbH, Sulz am Neckar, Germany)) can be used on infants weighing over 10 kg, we decided to give him general anesthesia. The infant was successfully intubated by Airwayscope™ and the lesion was surgically removed in accordance with the preoperative plan. The procedure took 65 min and created 8 g of bleeding. The infant had no postoperative bleeding or respiratory complications. There is no data on the timing of safe anesthesia management in infants with difficult airway management. Thus, taking the time to discuss the case with surgeons, other anesthesiologists, and the parents can be helpful.