Ventricular fibrillation in an ex-premature neonate following reperfusion of ischaemic gut incarcerated within an inguinal hernia.

Mark Allford (1) , Stephanie Bew (2)

1 Dept. of Anaesthesia
2 Anaesthesia

We describe the case of a neonate who underwent surgery for bowel obstruction. The child was born at 25 weeks post conception and at the time of surgery he had a postconceptual age of 44 weeks. He had undergone two previous laparotomy procedures for necrotizing enterocolitis. At laparotomy there was unexpected extensive compromise to gut perfusion. The child developed ventricular fibrillation following the reperfusion of a segment of ischaemic gut found incarcerated in an inguinal hernial orifice. We discuss the pathophysiology of intestinal ischaemia-reperfusion (I-R) injury. We have reviewed the interventions that may be employed to minimise the systemic impact of I-R.

Mots clés: Medicine

Mark Allford, Stephanie Bew. Ventricular fibrillation in an ex-premature neonate following reperfusion of ischaemic gut incarcerated within an inguinal hernia.. Pediatric Anesthesia, 2010, 20 (8), pp.763. ⟨10.1111/j.1460-9592.2010.03354.x⟩. ⟨hal-00552648⟩