Cardiac anaesthesia in a patient with myotonic dystrophy.

We describe a patient with myotonic dystrophy who required open-heart surgery for an atrial septal defect. He also had a sick sinus syndrome and an abnormal myocardium on histological examination. Anaesthesia using fentanyl, droperidol, nitrous oxide and a low concentration of enflurane was uneventful. Atelectasis of the left lung developed on the first postoperative day after removal of the tracheal tube. This was successfully treated by fibreoptic bronchoscopy.