A&A practice
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Pentalogy of Cantrell is a rare syndrome consisting of midline abnormalities involving the heart, sternum, abdominal wall, and the anterior and pericardial diaphragm. This combination of defects places patients at particular perioperative risk and requires individualized management during anesthetic care. The following report documents the management of a patient with pentalogy of Cantrell, whose condition was further complicated by severe midline craniofacial abnormalities, including large anterior encephalocele, deficient mandible, tethered tongue, and cleft palate. The case offers insight into the complexity of care in this unique patient population.
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Case Reports
Continuous Erector Spinae Plane Catheter for Analgesia After Infant Thoracotomy: A Case Report.
The erector spinae plane block is an emerging technique for the provision of thoracolumbar analgesia with reported pediatric applications. We describe the placement of a continuous erector spinae plane catheter at the T5-T6 level in a 7-month-old infant who was undergoing thoracotomy for left upper lobectomy due to congenital pulmonary airway malformation. This technique resulted in outstanding analgesia without the need for opioid rescue analgesia. This block has a low degree of technical difficulty and is placed in area devoid of nearby critical structures and could be used in a number of potentially painful interventions.
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Neuroendocrine tumors may rarely present after organ transplantation, including cardiac transplant. Treatment is surgical resection with careful perioperative management to optimize blood pressure and intravascular volume. We present the anesthetic management of a patient who was diagnosed with bilateral neuroendocrine tumors soon after heart-lung transplantation and underwent successful staged bilateral adrenalectomy.
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Postmastectomy pain syndrome poses a significant treatment challenge. We present the case of a 42-year-old woman who presented to our pain clinic with a 16-month history of postmastectomy pain. We performed a combined superficial and deep serratus plane block using bupivacaine, dexamethasone, and clonidine. ⋯ At 2-month follow-up, her pain was 5/10. The block was repeated with the same drugs at 3 months with similar pain relief. This case illustrates the utility of a combined superficial and deep serratus plane block in postmastectomy pain syndrome with a possible benefit from added dexamethasone and clonidine.
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Electrical stimulation of the spinal cord is commonly used to treat neuropathic pain. However, epidural space adhesion caused by previous surgery may interfere with precise electrical lead placement. We here report a case of successful placement of electrical leads via an extraforaminal approach in the management of recurrent pain after primary spinal cord stimulation. Extraforaminal nerve root stimulation may be an alternative choice for repeated epidural spinal cord stimulation in cases of recurrent neuropathic pain.