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Neuro-Anesthesiology Considerations in Spinal Cord Tumors

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Abstract

Surgery for spinal cord tumors provides unique challenges in anesthetic management. Patients often present with significant comorbid conditions, including serious cardiovascular, respiratory, renal, and neurologic impairments. Airway management may be complicated by cervical spine involvement or the need for single lung ventilation. Positioning for spine surgery, in particular prone positioning, introduces physiologic strains and increases the risk of iatrogenic injury. Anesthetic management may need to be altered to facilitate neurophysiological monitoring. Given the risk of major blood loss, steps can—and should—be taken to minimize blood loss and the need for allogeneic blood transfusion. In addition, patients undergoing spinal surgery often have significant postoperative pain, and this must be addressed both intraoperatively and postoperatively.

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Borovcanin, Z., Ramaiah, V., Nadler, J. (2019). Neuro-Anesthesiology Considerations in Spinal Cord Tumors. In: Arnautović, K.I., Gokaslan, Z.L. (eds) Spinal Cord Tumors. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99438-3_8

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