How much of a cold rules out a general anaesthetic?

[Tmesis]

DD2 is due to have an MRI scan on Tuesday, under a light GA because of her age. She's had a cold for a couple of weeks which is getting better but is still definitely there. Will any degree of cold come Tuesday morning be a reason for not giving the GA and hence putting off the scan, or are some minor residual sniffles OK? I am not wise in the ways of these things...

I'm not a medical person so hopefully they'll be along soon but at least my post will keep it bumped up!

When mine have had GA I was told a cold ie runny nose was ok but bad cough or chest infection was a no go as it could affect airways when under.

Hiya my Ds 15mths had been in hospital for a ear infection and tonsillitis a few days before he needed a GA for a MRI and his consultant said as long as he doesn't have a chest infection with a temperature then they will still do it. A few days later he was still under the weather but the anaesthetist didn't bat an eyelid about it and was perfectly happy to continue. Although he did say to me node he came round that the MRI had shown he did still have a nasty ear infection! Good luck

I had just got over a cold when I had a GA and my windpipe went into convulsion and collapsed, I had to have muscle relaxing injections.

I would say that the GA should be postponed if the risk of having is higher than the risk of postponing it.

Best to phone the hospital and get advice.

Agree with the others - ds had grommets fitted recently when he had a runny nose and the anaethetist said runny nose ok, cough/infection not ok. She listened to his chest and said he was ok.
hth

Its down to the individual anaesthetist on the day once they have seen and assessed your daughter, but we are generally happy as long as not systemically unwell eg coughing up green stuff or temperature....
Its often very difficult to catch children between colds anyway!
Hope it goes well:)

It will depend on your DD and on the anaesthetist. Generally, if the cold is mild & improving, the anesthetist will talk to you about the slightly increased risks of airway problems when you have a cold, but unless there is a bad cold or fever or it's only just starting then mist anaesthetists wouldn't postpone the procedure since children are always getting colds, so the chances are that if you delay then the child will just have a different cold the next time. Generally you only delay if you can improve the patients condition for a future date.

Gardeninggirl - is that the same for major a operations as well? Ds is due to have major spinal / neurosurgery in 2 weeks time and has just this weekend developed a cough. I'm trying not to panic as we still have 2 weeks but I really, really don't want it cancelled!

Thank you all. I'll give them a call tomorrow but it does sound likely that it'll just be a case of the anaesthetist having a look at her on the day. She's really just got the snotty nose left, no problems with her chest.

Sorry for the shamelessly selfish bump/hijack, but I've got laparoscopic abdominal day surgery on Thursday, and have started with post nasal drip, bit of a blocked nose in the norning, and what feels like a bit of a head cold. At the moment, no temp and not feeling too bad with it, but I can't have this operation postponed - it's for removing my gallbladder and I've been waiting 6 months for the pain to stop, so I can't have it cancelled!!