Paediatric anaesthesia
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Paediatric anaesthesia · Nov 2008
Letter Case ReportsA novel cause of penetrating paediatric oral trauma.
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Children with seizure disorders unresponsive to medical management may undergo surgical disconnection of a cerebral hemisphere, or hemispherectomy, in order to reduce or eliminate seizures. Because early cessation of seizures is thought to improve developmental outcomes, infants and young children with intractable seizures are undergoing hemispherectomies with increasing frequency. Previously, these procedures have been noted to be accompanied by severe cardiovascular, pulmonary, neurologic and coagulopathic complications. Newer surgical techniques (i.e. 'functional' rather than 'anatomic' hemispherectomy) and improved anesthetic management may reduce the perioperative complication rate of this procedure. The aim of this case series was to determine the incidence of major complication of functional hemispherectomy in our institution. ⋯ This small case series suggests that improvements in anesthetic and surgical techniques may be associated with a decreased complication rate for infants and small children undergoing seizure surgery than previously reported.