[Anesthetic considerations in complete obstruction of major veins of upper trunk--report of two cases].

This article presents two cases about complete obstruction of major veins of upper trunk. One was a 45 year-old woman who suffered from complete obstruction of superior vena cava due to bronchogenic carcinoma. Venous bypass grafting from left innominate vein to right atrium was performed. The other was a 41 year-old man. Both of his right and left, internal and external jugular veins were completely obstructed after radical laryngectomy and radiotherapy due to hypopharyngeal carcinoma. Venous bypass grafting from cerebral transverse sinus to right atrium was performed. In both cases, general anesthesia with neurosurgical anesthetic concepts were performed with continuous blood pressure monitoring, CVP monitoring, pulse oximetry, end-tidal CO2 monitoring, blood gas analysis, urine output and EKG monitoring. The outcome was satisfactory in both cases.