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Anesthesia in the Child with Cerebral Palsy

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Cerebral Palsy

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Abstract

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a nonspecific, descriptive term that encompasses a constellation of symptoms due to neurologic lesion resulting from the insult to the developing brain sustained early in life. Although the neurologic lesion in CP is nonprogressive, the motor dysfunction due to spasticity may be progressive leading to spinal deformities, joint contractures, and dislocations requiring medical and surgical interventions. Anesthetic care for children with cerebral palsy is fraught with significant concerns for anesthesia provider and careful attention to all aspects of perioperative care is necessary. Perioperative planning and care should include thorough preoperative assessment, attention to co-morbidities, management of chronic medications, meticulous intraoperative care to maintaining normothermia, and adequate replacement of fluid and blood products. Postoperative assessment of pain and its management are essential to facilitate recovery and uneventful perioperative course.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, Wilmington, DE, USA

    Dinesh K. Choudhry & Mary C. Theroux

  2. Department of Pediatrics, Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Mary C. Theroux

  3. Department of Anesthesiology, Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Dinesh K. Choudhry & Mary C. Theroux

Authors
  1. Dinesh K. Choudhry
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  2. Mary C. Theroux
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dinesh K. Choudhry .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedics, Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, Wilmington, DE, USA

    Freeman Miller

  2. Department of Pediatrics, Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, Wilmington, USA

    Steven Bachrach

  3. Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, Wilmington, DE, USA

    Nancy Lennon

  4. Columbia University, Irving Medical Center, Programs in Physical Therapy, New York, NY, USA

    Margaret E. O'Neil

Section Editor information

  1. AI DuPont Hospital for Children, Wilmington, DE, USA

    Freeman Miller

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Choudhry, D.K., Theroux, M.C. (2020). Anesthesia in the Child with Cerebral Palsy. In: Miller, F., Bachrach, S., Lennon, N., O'Neil, M.E. (eds) Cerebral Palsy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74558-9_83

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74558-9_83

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-74558-9

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