Beach Chair Position Surgery Complications. The ability to easily convert the BC position to the supine position has also been described as an advantage should any airway complications arise during the procedure1 2 The BC position was initially created to reduce the number of brachial plexus injuries caused by traction in the LD position with reported injuring rates ranging from 10 to 302 4 Rodeo et al. Potential complications related to the modiļ¬ed beachchair position or the lateral decubitus position such as neuropraxia visualization problems infec-tions or anesthesia access problems were not encoun-tered.
Complications associated with this position include traction injuries resulting in neurapraxia thromboembolic events difficulty with airway. This can result in brain damage but an understanding of cerebral autoregulation is essential to prevent this occurrence. Cerebral hypoperfusion is a recognized and catastrophic complication of the beach chair position15 16 17 18 19 20 Koh et al.
The BCP or sitting position is associated with several potential complications.
Although controversial failing to consider the gravitational effects of head elevation on cerebral perfusion is speculated to increase susceptibility to rare but devastating neurologic complications after shoulder surgery in the beach chair position BCP. Since hypotension in beach chair position BCP can lead to catastrophic neurologic complications the prediction of hypotension is a matter of concern in the BCP under general anesthesia. We investigated whether pre-induction values of mean arterial pressure MAP stroke volume variation SVV cardiac index CI and stroke volume index SVI can predict hypotension in BCP during. Cervical plexus injury hypoglossal nerve injury cervical ischemia ophthalmoplegia hypotension and cerebral artery hypoperfusion are all documented complications in the beach-chair position.
