Anesthesia (timeline)

I have a general question regarding the timeline of anesthesia use. A young man with CdLS is having two procedures that will both require anesthesia (dental work and endoscopy). They cannot be done at the same time. How long of a period, if any, should pass between the use of anesthesia?

It’s a shame that the two procedures cannot be done at the same time. We work very hard to coordinate these types of procedures to limit the trauma that the family and patient have to incur. I really encourage you to negotiate this.

On the face of it, there are certainly no physiological reasons to establish a waiting period between procedures; my concerns would be more psychosocial ones. I think I would gauge the family’s response to the first procedure, and if they all did well (including that first postoperative night), I would schedule the second procedure at the next convenient time. But, if the whole thing was very traumatic (the child’s postoperative behavior was noticeably altered), I would wait a good six weeks to allow everyone to recover.

AZ/TK 7-13-10

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