Anesthesia for the laser treatment of the premature retinopathy in the prematurit

The anesthesia for the laser treatment of the premature retinopathy is a challenge for the anesthesiologist due to the anatomic and physiologic characteristic of these patients, to the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic behavior of the anesthetics in them and the diseases that can be associated to them. For that reason we review the literature with the objective of showing the anesthetic considerations for the laser treatment of that disease. We looked for the theme in books, printed documents and on line, and also in the following databases: Central Cochrane Register, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Google. We concluded that there is not an ideal anesthetic technique; selecting one of the other depends on the patient status, the anesthesiologist experience and the availability of resources, the surgical time, and also the place where the procedure is carry out: surgical center or neonatal intensive care unit.