Palatoplasty is usually performed when the patient is an infant. moreover, many patients have chronic infection of the upper airway. It is often seen that some patients have serious respiratory complications after the operations, because the field of the operation coincides with the upper airway. We here report two cases of respiratory complications obliged for us to maintain respiratory control for several days.
The first case is a lyr 9mon baby boy who fell into postoperative subglottic edema. Cough and rhinorrhea were observed a few days before the operation but the condition was not considered very serious, and the operation was performed. No trouble was seen during the operation, but approximately an hour and a half after returning to the ward, stridor and paradoxical respiration were observed and then he showed cyanosis. Re-intubation was performed immediately and he was placed in a humidified oxygen tent and administered medicine for 5 days. He gradually recovered and left the hospital 13 days after the operation.
The second case is a lyr7mon baby girl who fell into postoperative atelectasis. Her temperature rose to 38.9°C 4 days before the operation and was still 38.5°C on the next day, so she was given a febrifuge and temperature returned to normal, but cough and rhinorrhea were still observed. It was considered that the operation ought to be postponed but the surgeon insisted and the operation was performed. No trouble happened during the operation but after extubation, stridor and paradoxical respration were observed. Re-intubation was performed dimmediately and bronchial toilet and suction of secretions were repeated through the endotrachal tube. Approximately an hour later improvement was seen and the tube was taken out. But the next day she showed cyanosis and the endotracheal tube was inserted again and kept in for 4 days. After active respiratory care, she finally was able to leave the hosital 18 dasys after the operation.
Both of these cases fell into postoperative respiratory complications because of our ignorance of their poor physical status before the operation. No matter how much the surgeon insisted, we ought to have put off their operations.
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