Morphine anesthesia for palliative cardiac surgery in infants and children
Fukatsu, O.; Imamura, S.; Ogata, H.; Fujihara, T.; Miyamoto, H.; Nakayama, S.; Akasaka, T.; Ohkawa, Y.; Itoh, K.
Masui. Japanese Journal of Anesthesiology 29(3): 267-273
1980
ISSN/ISBN: 0021-4892 PMID: 7373845 Document Number: 163263
Palliative cardiac surgery prior to radical open heart surgery in severely cyanotic patients with decreased pulmonary blood flow is frequently complicated by bradycardia and hypotension. Morphine (1 mg/kg i.v.) was given to 68 patients as the main anesthetic agent. The age distribution of the patients was from 1 day-6 yr old. Prostaglandin [PG]E1 was used to maintain patent ductus arteriosus in 26 cases. During a severely hypoxic stage, i.e., clamping of a pulmonary artery during the surgery, 5-20 .mu.g/kg per min of dopamine drip maintained arterial blood pressure. All cases had stable cardiovascular and renal functions transoperatively. Morphine anesthesia did not significantly increase the duration of postoperative ventilatory support compared to halothane anesthesia. Morphine is the anesthesia of choice for palliative cardiac operations in infants and children.