Anesthesia for temporomandibular arthroplasty in a quadriplegic patient: a case report.

A 41-year-old male quadriplegic patient with bilateral TMJ ankylosis was admitted for surgery under general anesthesia. Preoperative tests showed abnormal lung function and a low total serum calcium level. Premedication consisted of diazepam 10 mg orally and glycopyrrolate 0.2 mg intramuscularly 90 minutes before the start of the operation. Because of an inability to open the mouth more than 0.5 cm, a nasal fiberoptic endoscopic intubation was done under sedation and local anesthesia. For maintenance of anesthesia the patient received nitrous oxide 50% in oxygen, halothane, and alfentanil. No muscle relaxant was administered. The 2-hour operation was completed uneventfully and the patient needed no ventilatory support afterward. Major anesthetic problems of spinal injury patients can be compared to those with cervical cord transection. The stage that the condition has reached determines the dominant anesthetic problems. The chronic stage (greater than 3 months postinjury, as in this patient) is usually characterized by sympathetic overactivity. Anesthetic problems during this stage may include risk of hyperkalemia from succinylcholine, cardiovascular instability and autonomic hyperreflexia, impaired thermoregulation, anemia, chronic infections, risk of hypercalcemia, and alveolar hypoventilation. None of these problems was encountered in this patient. A surprising finding was that the low serum calcium concentration did not influence the anesthetic outcome.