Anesthetic Experience in Children with Cystic Fibrosis of the Pancreas

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Abstract
During the period 1945-62, 135 operations were performed on 93 children with cystic fibrosis of the pancreas. General anesthesia was given in 133 cases; 2 were done with spinal block. Ninety complications occurred either during anesthesia or in the postoperative period[long dash]60 were pulmonary and 30 were surgical complications. Eighteen of the pulmonary complications were related to anesthesia. One hundred and two children received a belladonna drug for pre-anesthetic medication[long dash]51% had pulmonary complications; exclusion of complications due to anesthetic management reduced this figure to 36 per cent. Comparable figures for 33 children who did not receive atropine or scopolamine were 57% and 50%, respectively. The rate of respiratory complications was 45% when diethyl ether was the primary agent, 47% with cyclopropane and 53% with halothane. Fifty of the 93 patients eventually died, 25 during the admission for surgery and 25 at varying periods (up to 15 years) after leaving the hospital. The overall mortality rate of this surgical group (54%) fell within the range of estimated mortality of the clinical disease before children reach adulthood (50-80%).

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