Anesthesia and apnea. Perioperative considerations in the former preterm infant.

Former preterm infants younger than 44 weeks postconceptual age are at increased risk for developing postoperative apnea and PB. When surgery cannot be deferred until the infant is developmentally more mature, several measures should be taken to minimize the risk of ventilatory dysfunction. First, outpatient surgery is not advisable for infants younger than 44 weeks postconceptual age. All infants should be admitted to the hospital and monitored for apnea and bradycardia for at least 12 to 18 hours after surgery. Second, we recommend the use of intravenous caffeine base 10 mg/kg in all infants at risk for postoperative apnea following general anesthesia. Preliminary studies of a small number of patients indicate that spinal anesthesia without sedation is associated with less apnea than is general anesthesia or spinal anesthesia with ketamine sedation. This option warrants further consideration. Infants with anemia of prematurity, generally a benign condition, are at increased risk for postoperative apnea. It is therefore preferable to delay elective surgery and supplement the feeds with iron until the Hct is above 30%. When surgery cannot be deferred, anemic infants must be observed and monitored carefully in the postoperative period.