Anaesthetic considerations in a patient with Fraser syndrome

Fraser Syndrome: A Stumbling Block for the Anaesthesiologist

Fraser syndrome is a rare autosomal recessive disorder with spectrum of malformations. Gamut of abnormal airway includes high arched palate, laryngeal atresia, hypoplasia, laryngeal stenosis etc. Laryngeal intubation difficulties have often been reported in literature. Airway management and decision process leading to emergency tracheostomy in these children has been discussed.

Congenital upper eyelid coloboma: embryologic, nomenclatorial, nosologic, etiologic, pathogenetic, epidemiologic, clinical, and management perspectives

Purpose:

To review the recent literature and describe the authors’ experience with congenital upper eyelid coloboma.

Methods:

In this review, we will summarize the embryologic and etiopathogenetic bases of congenital upper eyelid coloboma, and study the published clinical reports. We will also attempt to briefly shed some light on the rarer syndromic curiosities associated with upper eyelid coloboma.

Results:

Congenital upper eyelid colobomas are one of the few nontraumatic oculoplastic emergencies that may occasionally present in the first few days of life with a corneal ulcer and may even present with impending perforation. They can present with or without corneopalpebral adhesions, may be isolated findings or a part of a larger spectrum of congenital anomalies as in the case of Fraser syndrome or Goldenhar syndrome, or could be associated with other rare curiosities that could challenge the clinician with a huge diagnostic dilemma.

Conclusions:

Existing literature dealing with congenital colobomas of the upper eyelid is fraught with nosologic problems, confusing etiologies, and overlapping clinical features. We attempted to clarify the salient clinical features, outline the management principles, and until a time in the not-so-distant future where advances in molecular genetic testing would help redefine the etiology and the diverse clinical spectrum of genetic diseases associated with upper eyelid colobomas, we propose a simplified classification scheme based on the relation of the coloboma to the cornea, the presence or absence of systemic features, and all the syndromic and nonsyndromic associations of congenital coloboma of the upper eyelid known today.

In this review, the authors will describe the pathogenesis of upper eyelid coloboma, suggest a new simplified classification system, describe the clinical picture in detail, clarify the various syndromic associations of upper eyelid coloboma, and lay out the basic surgical principles of management.

Delivery of anesthesia and complications for children with Fraser syndrome: a review of 125 anesthetics

OBJECTIVES

To perform a retrospective, anesthesia case note review of patients with Fraser syndrome.

AIM

To identify the perioperative and postoperative anesthetic management and complications in this patient group.

BACKGROUND

Fraser syndrome is a rare, autosomal recessively inherited disorder characterized by cryptophthalmos, cutaneous syndactyly, and ambiguous genitalia. It also has variable association with cardiac, laryngeal, tracheal, and gastrointestinal abnormalities. Children with Fraser syndrome present for a variety of surgical and radiological procedures, and there are a number of single case reports in the literature.

METHODS

A retrospective case note review was undertaken on 10 children with Fraser syndrome who presented to our institution over a 30-year period. Analysis of the medical notes and general anesthetic records was undertaken, and the conduct of anesthesia, spectrum of disease, genetic markers, and perioperative complications were recorded. There were a total of 125 procedures performed under general anesthesia during this period.

RESULTS

There were a total of ten anesthetic complications in the review, all related to management of the airway. There were two accidental extubations, five recorded incidents of airway obstruction (which were relieved with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP)) and one posttracheostomy airway bleed. One child was a difficult intubation requiring an ID 2.5 mm oral endotracheal tube (ETT), and one child was an impossible intubation that required an emergency tracheostomy to secure the airway.

CONCLUSIONS

There was a low incidence of complications with this group of patients. However, there is a relatively high incidence of difficult or impossible tracheal intubation (20%) due to glottic stenosis and one patient required an emergency tracheostomy despite no previous clinical evidence of airway narrowing.

Impossible laryngeal intubation in an infant with Fraser syndrome

Congenital webbing of the vocal cords is rare, and is usually incompatible with life. We report a case of an infant with Fraser syndrome who required a surgical airway because of a severe stenosis of her airway secondary to a glottic web. The decision process leading to tracheostomy in this neonate is described. The pertinent features of Fraser syndrome in relation to airway management are discussed.

Fraser syndrome and cryptophthalmos: review of the diagnostic criteria and evidence for phenotypic modules in complex malformation syndromes

Fraser syndrome is characterised by cryptophthalmos, cutaneous syndactyly, malformations of the larynx and genitourinary tract, craniofacial dysmorphism, orofacial clefting, mental retardation, and musculoskeletal anomalies. The inheritance is autosomal recessive. No diagnostic cytogenetic abnormalities have been documented in affected patients, and no molecular genetic studies have been reported. We have reviewed 117 cases diagnosed as Fraser syndrome or cryptophthalmos published since the comprehensive review of Thomas et al in 1986 in order to validate the published diagnostic criteria and to delineate the phenotype associated with this syndrome. Our series showed more females (57/117) than males and consanguinity was present in 29/119 (24.8%). Eighty-eight patients satisfied the diagnostic criteria for Fraser syndrome (75%). Cryptophthalmos was present in 103/117 (88%), syndactyly in 72/117 (61.5%), and ambiguous genitalia in 20/117 (17.1%). Ear malformations were recorded in 69/117 (59%), and renal agenesis in 53/117 (45.3%). Use of the published diagnostic criteria excluded several patients with cryptophthalmos and one or more physical feature(s) consistent with Fraser syndrome. The frequency of additional anomalies in our series was also higher than previously reported (for example, imperforate anus or anal stenosis were found in 34/117 (29%) compared with 2/124 (2%) in the series of Thomas et al (1986) and choanal stenosis or atresia was present in 7/117 (6%) compared to 0/124. These findings emphasise the clinical variability associated with Fraser syndrome and support genetic heterogeneity of the syndrome. We also noted patterns of anomalies (for example, bicornuate uterus with imperforate anus or anal stenosis and renal malformations) that are found in other syndromes and associations without cryptophthalmos, suggesting that common modifier genes may explain some of the phenotypic variation in Fraser syndrome.