Open AccessPresentation of occult Chiari I malformation following spinal anesthesia
Author(s) -
Saravanan P Ankichetty,
Saleh Khunein,
Lashmi Venkatraghavan
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
indian journal of anaesthesia/indian journal of anaesthesia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.645
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 0976-2817
pISSN - 0019-5049
DOI - 10.4103/0019-5049.104583
Subject(s) - medicine , foramen magnum , occult , anesthesia , obstructive sleep apnea , chiari malformation , surgery , apnea , presentation (obstetrics) , perioperative , spinal cord , syringomyelia , alternative medicine , pathology , psychiatry
Chiari I malformation (CM-I) manifests with tonsillar herniation below foramen magnum. These patients are at high risk of respiratory depression and bulbar dysfunction in the perioperative period with underlying obstructive sleep apnea. However, the safe use of both general and regional anaesthesia has been documented in a known CM-I parturients. We describe the successful management of a patient who had hypercapnic respiratory failure in the post-anaesthetic care unit following an uneventful subarachnoid block for left knee replacement surgery. This patient was retrospectively diagnosed with occult CM-I and moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea in the postoperative period.