Anaesthesia for a patient with Friedreich's ataxia and cardiomyopathy.

Friedreich's ataxia is an inherited neuromuscular disorder often associated with significant cardiac disease. We report a case of Friedreich's ataxia in a 13-year-old girl with ulcerative colitis and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy who was successfully managed for subtotal colectomy with general anaesthesia and epidural narcotic. Anaesthetic considerations included the maintenance of fluid volume and stable cardiovascular variables in the intra- and postoperative periods.