Tridip Jyoti Borah1, Jagadish Basumatary2, Dipika Choudhury3
INTRODUCTION
Congenital diaphragmatic hernia in a neonate is a challenging task to any anaesthesiologist. CDH occurs due to an early developmental defect that results in the extrusion of intra-abdominal organs (i.e. stomach, small intestines, spleen, liver) into the thoracic cavity. In 85% of the cases it is left sided. This leads to lung hypoplasia, pulmonary hypertension, and pulmonary arteriolar dysregulation/reactivity. Historically, CDH was considered to be a surgical emergency and aggressive hyperventilatory strategies with high peak inspiratory pressures were employed to improve survival. But recent multicentre studies have shown the beneficial effect of conservative low volume ventilation with low inflation pressures and permissive hypercapnia. We present to you the successful management of a two day old neonate with this ventilation strategy.
