Anaesthesia for a morbidly obese patient with schizophrenia and intellectual disability

ABSTRACT

We report the case of a morbidly obese woman with schizophrenia and intellectual disability who underwent dental treatment using general anaesthesia. The 38-year-old patient was 156 cm tall and weighed 140 kg, with a body mass index of 57.5 kg. m⁻². Her developmental age was less than five or six years. She had been taking several antipsychotic agents, including haloperidol. Tracheal intubation was performed smoothly and anaesthesia was maintained uneventfully using propofol and remifentanil.

This case demonstrates that the method of general anaesthesia presented here can be used safely in managing patients with these kinds of disabilities.

Keywords:

• general anaesthesia
• morbid obesity
• schizophrenia
• intellectual disability