Emergency anesthetic management of an achondroplastic elderly gravida with polytrauma.

A 42-year-old pregnant female, diagnosed with achondroplasia, presented to our trauma center with multiple injuries after being involved in a motor vehicle accident. During her hospitalization, she underwent multiple surgeries and required admission in the intensive care unit. We describe the emergency anesthetic management of this patient, highlighting the effects of skeletal dysplasia on airway, cardiorespiratory system, and ventilatory mechanics. These effects, when superimposed upon with physiological changes of pregnancy, can lead to an unanticipated ventilatory challenge as we describe in this report.