A child with Crouzon's syndrome and ventricular septal defect posted for ventriculoperitoneal shunt surgery

Quite often in our anaesthesia practice, we encounter syndromic children presenting to us for surgery either for correction of the primary deformity or for a secondary problem. A child with a craniofacial syndrome presents with a number of issues for the anaesthetist, with difficult airway being one of the most important one. The challenge increases with increasing complexity of the surgery. When pre-anaesthetic evaluation of such a child is done, other congenital anomalies also might come into picture. These may include various types of congenital malformations or congenital heart diseases which may be diagnosed incidentally while evaluation. Anaesthetic management of such a child presenting for surgery includes a thorough pre-anaesthetic evaluation, formulating a plan for intraoperative anaesthetic management and proper postoperative care. This case report describes a child with Crouzon's syndrome posted for ventriculoperitoneal shunt surgery.