[Anesthetic problems in patients with Forestier's disease].

We have studied common problems associated with the anesthetic management of Forestier's disease in 8 patients undergoing neurosurgery. This disease is a systemic degenerative disorder and is characterized by osteo-spur formation at anterior spinal body. In two of eight patients the trachea was intubated with great difficulty even by well-trained anesthesiologist. Its cause could be found not only in limited cervical mobility but also in constrained epiglottic elevation, suggesting that Forestier's disease requires special anesthetic considerations. It is thus important to predict the possibility of difficult tracheal intubation on both physical examination and the preoperative X-ray photography.