Anesthetic management of patients with Klippel-Feil syndrome, a case series

Klippel-Feil syndrome (KFS) is a rare entity which is characterized by failure of normal segmentation of cervical vertebrae resulting in short neck with restricted movement and cervical instability. This anomaly increases the risk of neurological damage during airway instrumentation like laryngoscopy and positioning for surgery. We report three patients, a 42 years old man with KFS who scheduled for craniocervical fusion under general anesthesia, a 6 years old girl candidate for cleft palate repair and a 26 years old woman candidate for craniocervical fusion. All the patients were successfully managed using fiberoptic bronchoscope in first two cases and gum elastic bougie (GEB) in the last case.