Anaesthetic Experience Using a Standard Technique for Laryngeal Surgery in Infants and Children

A 12 year review is presented of 1922 anaesthetic experiences on 285 patients presenting for microlaryngeal operations at the Hospital For Sick Children, Toronto. The lesions treated were laryngealgrowths, 198 cases (69.5 per cent); subglotlic stenosis, 81 cases (28.4 per cent); and posterior laryngeal cleft, 6 cases (2.1 per cent). The anaesthetic technique consisted of topical analgesia with lidocaine spray (3 mg kg-1) and pharyngeal insufflation of halothane and methoxyflurane both 1–1.5 per cent in oxygen through a special channel in the blade of a Jako Pilling microlaryngoscope in spontaneously breathing patients.