[Anesthetic management of emergency total gastrectomy in a patient with mitochondrial encephalomyopathy: a case of gastric perforation accompanied by systemic inflammatory response syndrome].

There are several problems in anesthetic management for patients with mitochondrial myopathy, encephalopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes (MELAS); susceptibility to malignant hyperthermia, metabolic disorders such as lactic acidosis and diabetes, and dysfunction of vital organs such as cardiomyopathy. Here we report an anesthetic management of emergency laparotomy in a 58-year-old woman with MELAS and systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS). Pre-operative examinations revealed lactic acidosis, hyperglycemia, moderate cardiac depression, and slightly decreased renal function. We chose total intravenous anesthesia to avoid risks of malignant hyperthermia. Anesthesia was induced by rapid-sequence fashion and maintained using midazolam, propofol, ketamine, fentanyl and vecuronium. Based on arterial blood gas analyses, we adjusted ventilator settings, restored blood volume using acetated-Ringer's solution and alubumin preparation with transfusion, and administered sodium bicarbonate and catecholamines, to keep adequate oxygen demand/supply balance and improve acid-base balance. We applied a patient warming system to avoid the progression of hypothermia. After the surgery, the patient was transferred to the intensive care unit, and underwent the endotoxin absorption therapy as well as antibiotics therapy for the treatment of SIRS. The post-operative course was almost uneventful. We consider that careful anesthetic management was essential for the uneventful peri-operative course of this patient.