Anesthesia for arterial switch operation in simple transposition of the great arteries: experience at Siriraj Hospital.

Anesthetic management of cardiac patients with complete transposition of the great arteries (TGA) undergoing arterial switch operation (ASO) is challenging. The anesthetic course and perioperative problems were studied. A prospective data collection study of 87 patients was performed between January 1991 and February 2002. The patients were divided into 3 groups: Group 1; 27 neonates with TGA with an intact ventricular septum (IVS), Group 2; 21 with TGA, with IVS who underwent two-stage ASO, and Group 3; 39 with TGA, with a large VSD. The anesthesia consisted of low-dose fentanyl, thiopental, atracurium and isoflurane. Monitoring included ECG, radial or femoral arterial pressure, CVP, LAP, core temperature, SpO2, P(E)CO2, urine output, ABG's, Hct, ACT, serum glucose and potassium. Fortunately the courses of anesthesia were uneventful. Usual vasoactive medication administered following CPB included nitroglycerin, dobutamine and dopamine. Groups I, 2 and 3 contained 18.5 per cent, 14.3 per cent and 33.3 per cent of patients who required adrenaline respectively. And only 7.7 per cent of patients in Group 3 had milrinone as an inotrope. Early tracheal extubation, 2 hours after admission to ICU was performed in 3 patients. Perioperative complications included bleeding, low cardiac output, diaphragmatic paresis, digitalis intoxication, metabolic alkalosis, convulsion, pulmonary hypertensive crisis and death. Two patients who developed a pulmonary hypertensive crisis were successfully managed with inhaled nitric oxide. The overall hospital mortality rate was 19.54 per cent. In conclusion, the anesthetic management for ASO in 87 simple dTGA patients was uneventful at Siriraj Hospital. The major perioperative morbidity and hospital mortality were not directly anesthetic contribution.

Neuropsychological alterations after coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate neuropsychological dysfunction in patients following elective coronary artery bypass graft surgery at Siriraj Hospital. PATIENTS AND METHOD: One hundred and ten patients who were scheduled for elective coronary artery bypass graft surgery were included in this study. We used the Thai Mental State Examination (TMSE) in order to detectthe presence of cognitive impairment aftercoronary artery bypass graft surgery. The examinations were conducted on two consecutive occasions; first preoperatively, the day before surgery, secondly on the third - fifth postoperative day. The patients' clinical characteristics were assessed perioperatively. RESULTS: The overall occurrence of neuropsychological deficit was 18.18 per cent. Predictors of neuropsychological dysfunction were older age and preexisting disease such as hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and renal insufficiency. Other risk factors such as gender, history of congestive heart failure, myocardial infarction, diabetes mellitus, dysrhythmia, cardiopulmonary bypass time, hemoglobin during cardiopulmonary bypass <7 g/dl, hemoglobin on admission to surgical cardiac care unit <10 g/dl, and atrial fibrillation arising after surgery were not significant. CONCLUSION: Neuropsychological impairments after coronary artery bypass graft surgery are relatively common. This study did not find an increased incidence with respect to gender as other studies have done. However, long-term follow-up of these patients would be very valuable.