Clinical Complications in Pediatric Anesthesia

This chapter describes some of the most common and severe complications that may be encountered in the daily care of children within the perioperative environment. Nonetheless, data are available for many common and serious clinical complications in pediatric anesthesia to allow clinicians to minimize risk and provide the best care possible to the children under their care. The chapter covers the perioperative complications such as cardiac arrest, temperature control, malignant hyperthermia, propofol infusion syndrome, local anesthetic toxicity, positioning injuries, perioperative vision loss, anaphylaxis, and latex allergy. The most important contribution to the existing knowledge related to pediatric cardiac arrest in the operative setting comes from the Pediatric Perioperative Cardiac Arrest (POCA) Registry. The POCA Registry has subsequently provided valuable insights into the risk factors and outcomes associated with pediatric perioperative cardiac arrest to further study the complications that may arise during the anesthetic care of children.