Arterial Oxygen Saturation in Children Following General Anaesthesia for ENT Surgery

Abstract

A total of 90 children aged between 9 and 144 months undergoing Ear Nose and Throat surgical procedures under general anaesthesia had continuous monitoring of oxygen saturation after their operations. The purpose of the study was to monitor arterial oxygen saturation for the first thirty minutes in the recovery room to determine the prevalence, degree and duration of postoperative hypoxemia in ASA I or II children following general anaesthesia after ENT surgery. The study showed that there is no significant hypoxia in these children following upper airway surgery. However there is a progressive decrease in Sa02 in the first 10 to 20 minutes before it plateaus or increases.