2023 Volume 43 Issue 2 Pages 170-176
About 150 pediatric cardiac surgeries are performed in our hospital each year, making it one of the leading surgical facilities for such surgeries among Japan’s national university hospitals. However, the number of cardiac surgery slots reserved for pediatric patients is limited. In addition, the number of ICU beds is small compared to the size of the hospital. We are trying to fix these problems.
In anesthesia management, we have several devices such as ultrasound-guided vascular puncture, including central venous catheter placement by supraclavicular approach, and transverse thoracic muscle plane block. We frequently use transesophageal echocardiography（TEE）for intraoperative management and carefully determine indications for TEE from baby weight around 2 kg. In addition to standard evaluations, we measure pulmonary venous blood flow to determine pulmonary artery banding size and to detect anastomotic abnormalities that can occur in systemic-to-pulmonary artery shunts and Fontan-type surgeries.
