Rarely, but regularly occurring catastrophiesin paediatric anaesthesia

Probably the worst disaster in paediatric anaesthesia is the unexpected death of a seemingly healthy child during or shortly after anaesthesia.Unrecognised acute virus myocarditis is one of the much feared clinical conditions which may lead to intractable cardiac insufficiency during anaesthesia.Other dangerous situations include bacterial tracheitis,negative pressure pulmonary oedema,interstitial emphysema, pneumothorax or a pneumopericardium, circulatory collapse due to mediastinal tumour and perforating necrotizing enterocolitis.Fortunately,these events are extremely rare and most anaesthetists will never experience them in clinical practice.

Keywords: paediatric anaesthesis, Risk, complications, anaesthesia related death