Anesthesia and cerebral palsy

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Cerebral palsy (CP) is a non-progressive disease induced by CNS injury, which leads to patients' motor impairment. CP patients are often submitted to surgical procedures due to usual diseases and some surgical situations related with CP. The aim of this article was to review cerebral palsy aspects of interest to anesthesiologists to allow an adequate pre, intra and postoperative management of these patients. CONTENTS: This article addresses cerebral palsy aspects such as etiology, classification, risk factors, pathophysiology, clinical presentation, diagnosis and therapies and, in addition to preoperative evaluation, preanesthetic medication, intra and postoperative management, postoperative analgesia and chronic pain. CONCLUSIONS: Anesthesiologists play an important role in decreasing anesthetic-surgical morbidity and mortality of cerebral palsy patients. The understanding of different aspects of cerebral palsy pathophysiologies, in addition to those of associated diseases and their therapies is paramount, because it allows anesthesiologists to anticipate and prevent intra and postoperative complications in this type of patient. © Sociedade Brasileira de Anestesiologia, 2005.