Romanian Neurosurgery (Sep 2012)
Considerations on anesthesia for posterior fossa-surgery
Abstract
Neuroanesthesia is a special chapter of anesthesia, referring to surgery that is performed right at the site of action of anesthetic drugs, namely the central nervous system (CNS). Changes induced by general anesthesia on the CNS are accompanied by changes in brain physiology, including cerebral blood flow (CBF), cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO2), cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) and electrophysiological functions. In neuroanesthesia, posterior fossa surgery faces difficult challenges due to the peculiarities observed from an anatomical and physiological point of view, which also requires the patient to be put in a specific position prior to surgery. Therefore, we have considered useful and detailed aspects of general anesthesia in this type of surgery, presenting data both from specialized literature and from personal experience of over 25 years.
