Anesthetic implications and role of preoperative beta blockade in esophageal substitution with stomach in pediatric surgical patients

Abstract

Abstract Background There is a paucity of literature on the anesthetic management of pediatric esophageal substitution using the stomach. We did a retrospective analysis of all such cases done at our institution. We analyzed the patient’s demography, indication, and type of surgery, co-morbid conditions, anesthesia techniques, duration of postoperative ventilation, hospital stay, complications, and mortality. The use of beta-blockers and their effect on the incidence of intraoperative and postoperative tachycardia in gastric pull-up patients was also analyzed. Results Thirty-four cases of gastric substitution of the esophagus in children were done over 19-year period; gastric pull-up was done in 28 patients and a gastric tube was made in 6 patients. General anesthesia was given to all; a thoracic epidural for pain was sited in 25 patients. Twenty-eight patients were ventilated postoperatively; the mean duration of ventilation is 54 h. Significant intraoperative tachycardia was observed in 85.7% of patients without beta-blocker as compared to 23.8% patients with beta-blocker (p = 0.004). Postoperatively, tachycardia was absent in patients receiving beta-blocker and present in 71.4% of patients not receiving beta-blockers (p < 0.001). Overall mortality was 8.8% but mortality due to cardiac arrhythmia was 42.9% in the patients not receiving beta-blockers (p = 0.001). Conclusions A thorough preoperative preparation, control of tachyarrhythmias, postoperative ventilation, and pain management is recommended for a favorable outcome. In addition, our paper supports the preoperative use of beta-blockers in reducing the incidence of fatal tachyarrhythmias associated with gastric pull-up surgery without any serious adverse effects. Level of evidence Level III

Keywords

• Pediatric
• Tracheoesophageal fistula
• Tachycardia
• Cardiac arrhythmias
• Metoprolol