The effect of anesthesia on the ventilatory functions of patients with Maxillo-mandibular fixation.

BACKGROUND

Maxillo-mandibular fixation (MMF) is a procedure still routinely practiced in developing countries.

AIM

To determine the variations in pulmonary functions readings between cases treated under general anesthesia (GA) and those treated under local anesthesia (LA).

METHODOLOGY

A descriptive hospital-based study of 106 patients was carried out from January 2011- December 2012. Information was obtained using a questionnaire and all study subjects had their baseline lung functions and their post-operative daily lung function parameters measured for the first week and then weekly for the next five weeks. The data obtained were analyzed using SPSS version 16 and a P-value of ≤0.05 was considered significant.

RESULTS

A total of 85 males and 21 females participated in the study. The means for age was 30.62±8.06, weight 63.92± 9.96 and BMI 23.21± 3.14 while the means for the pre-operative FVC, FEV and PEF were 3.71 ± 0.70, 3.14± 0.51 and 8.18± 1.61 respectively. There was a statistically significant drop (p< 0.05) in the FVC, FEV and PEF in the first post operative week. The drop in the lung function parameters were similar between the GA group and the LA group.

CONCLUSION

Maxillo-mandibular fixation causes a significant fall in pulmonary function parameters especially in the first 48 hours post-operatively irrespective of whether general or local anaesthesia was used at surgery. The pulmonary functions should be further monitored for more than 48 hours after surgery.