Key result
Patients with postpolio syndrome presenting for surgery require special anesthetic precautions due to potential respiratory impairment, sleep apnea, swallowing difficulties, and cold intolerance.
This review highlights the specific anesthetic considerations and precautions necessary when managing surgical patients with postpolio syndrome.
Warrants tailored perioperative precautions in postpolio syndrome; leaves open need for prospective studies to refine protocols.
The development of polio vaccines 50 yr ago essentially halted childhood polio epidemics in the industrialized world. During the past quarter century, a constellation of delayed neuromuscular symptoms, called postpolio syndrome, became recognized among the aging polio survivors. The prevalence of postpolio syndrome in the U.S. population is estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands. The most common symptoms are fatigue, pain, and new onset weakness thought to be related to delayed deterioration of motor neuron function. When a patient with postpolio syndrome presents for surgery, special precautions are warranted, because these patients may have respiratory impairment, sleep apnea, swallowing difficulties, and cold intolerance. This article first reviews clinical features and some pathoetiologic theories of postpolio syndrome and then focuses on anesthetic considerations including the use of common anesthetics, neuromuscular blockade, regional anesthesia, and general anesthetic management strategies.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Lambert et al. (2005) conducted a review in Postpolio syndrome. Anesthesia was evaluated. Patients with postpolio syndrome presenting for surgery require special anesthetic precautions due to potential respiratory impairment, sleep apnea, swallowing difficulties, and cold intolerance.