Anesthesia and perioperative management for a patient with Ullrich syndrome undergoing surgery for scoliosis

Ullrich syndrome is a rare congenital hypotonic-sclerotic muscular disorder in which affected children develop a slowly progressive scoliosis and contractures and limpness of joints. The disease causes increasingly invalidating contractures and hardening of the muscles of the neck and trunk. While this neuromuscular type of scoliosis is progressive, patients rarely attain the point of surgery due to their compromised general medical condition. This may explain the current lack of outcome data and the paucity of information on perioperative management for patients with Ullrich syndrome undergoing major surgery. The purpose of this report was therefore to describe our first experience with the perioperative and anesthetic management of a 15-year old boy presenting with Ullrich syndrome and a secondary invalidating scoliosis. The specific challenges of this condition characterized by severe restrictive lung disease and a challenging airway abnormality are discussed.