About

Dr. Shridevi Pandya-Shah is a board-certified anesthesiologist with expertise in pediatric anesthesiology and clinical practice spanning 16 years. Her primary interests include patient safety, education, and clinical research. She is actively involved in professional organizations, serving as a member of the Academic Anesthesiology Committee and the Patient Safety and Practice Management Abstract Review Subcommittee of the American Society of Anesthesiologists. Additionally, she participates in departmental quality assurance committees, hospital bioethics, and medical staff credentialing. Dr. Pandya-Shah holds an MD from Maharaja Sayajirao University in Vadodara, Gujarat, India, and is licensed to practice in New Jersey. Her clinical and academic work is dedicated to advancing patient safety and education within anesthesiology, with a focus on pediatric care.

Selected publications

• Anesthetic Challenges of Caring for an Adult With Moebius Syndrome: A Case Report

  Case Reports in Anesthesiology · 2025-01-01

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Background: Moebius syndrome (MBS) is a rare congenital disorder with facial nerve palsies and craniofacial malformations, increasing the risk of a difficult airway during anesthesia. We report a difficult airway in an adult with MBS during an elective procedure, which is unique as most reports of MBS are in children. Case Presentation: Our patient was a 30-year-old male diagnosed with MBS at birth and presented with craniofacial and orthopedic malformations, intellectual disability, and facial nerve palsies. Although our patient had prior successful intubations, their airway exam deteriorated from Mallampati Classes II to IV after many surgeries. After fiberoptic intubation with nebulized lidocaine to maintain spontaneous ventilation failed, an attempt with dexmedetomidine and video laryngoscopy was successful. Conclusion: Our case demonstrates the necessity of preparing for a difficult airway and strategies for airway management in an adult with MBS.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Anesthetic Challenges of Caring for an Adult with Moebius Syndrome: A Case Report

  Research Square · 2024-07-31 · 1 citations

  preprintOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Airway Management May Not Improve in Adult Patients With Pierre Robin Sequence: A Case Report

  A&A Practice · 2024-08-01 · 2 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  Infants with Pierre Robin sequence present with difficult airways due to their triad of micrognathia, glossoptosis, and cleft palate. This creates a difficult airway to intubate and ventilate. Typically, with various interventions and the growth of the mandible with age, the airway gets easier to manage into adulthood. Surgeries, such as coronoidectomy, have been found to ease the difficulty of intubation in pediatric patients, but the results are not always permanent. We present an adult with Pierre Robin sequence who continued to have a difficult airway, suggesting that airway management does not necessarily improve with age.

  PublisherDOI

• The anesthetic management of a child with ohtahara syndrome and severe stridor: a case report

  BMC Pediatrics · 2024 · 3 citations

  Senior author
  • Medicine
  • Anesthesia
  • Surgery

  BACKGROUND: Ohtahara syndrome is a progressive developmental and epileptic encephalopathy that manifests in the early infantile period. This rare condition is characterized by intractable seizures, psychomotor retardation, and poor prognosis. To date, there are a handful of case reports regarding the anesthetic management of children with Ohtahara syndrome. However, limited reports exist of patients with Ohtahara syndrome who present with difficult airways. This report describes our airway findings and general anesthetic management of a pediatric patient with Ohtahara syndrome undergoing diagnostic bronchoscopy for severe inspiratory stridor. CASE PRESENTATION: A 14-month-old, 9 kg, male patient with Ohtahara syndrome presented with a year-long history of severe inspiratory stridor and was scheduled for bronchoscopy with lavage. On exam, the patient had noisy breathing, was non-verbal with developmental delay, and had poor head control with significant central hypotonia. The patient was induced with ketamine and general anesthesia was maintained with propofol. Bronchoscopic evaluation was completed uneventfully and revealed a diagnosis of laryngotracheomalacia. The patient's breathing was maintained spontaneously throughout the procedure and no seizures were noted. In the post anesthesia care unit, the patient's respiratory and cardiovascular function were stable. CONCLUSIONS: This report documents the unusual finding of severe inspiratory stridor in a 14-month-old child diagnosed with Ohtahara syndrome and our anesthetic management during their diagnostic bronchoscopy. Currently, documentation of complex airway pathology present in patients with Ohtahara syndrome is limited and should be further evaluated. This will assist pediatric anesthesiologists as these patients may require careful preoperative assessment, thoughtful airway management, and surgical alternatives on standby.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Anesthetic Implications of Previously Undiagnosed Temporomandibular Joint Ankylosis: A Case Report

  A&A Practice · 2023-01-01 · 1 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) ankylosis is characterized by bony fusion that limits TMJ mobility. We present the case of an elderly woman who was brought to the operating room for dental rehabilitation under general anesthesia. The patient had an undiagnosed TMJ ankylosis, which was discovered only after induction of anesthesia due to her nonverbal status and advanced dementia. The surgical team canceled the case due to limited access to the surgical field. We discuss the factors that suggest TMJ ankylosis and propose the perioperative management when TMJ ankylosis is suspected but unconfirmed.

  PublisherDOI

• The Empathic Patient Centered Approach in the Anesthetic Preoperative Interview

  Open Journal of Anesthesiology · 2022-01-01 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  Background: Multiple studies in the primary care field have indicated the benefits of using a patient centered approach in communication with the patient; such interviewing methods have been shown to improve patient satisfaction and adherence. There is a scarcity of anesthetic literature regarding communication skills in the perioperative period. The goal is to analyze to what extent empathic patient-centered communication methods are being used by anesthesia providers. Communication scores will be compared among providers, as well as to providers across several different subspecialties. Methods: This study is an observational descriptive study at a large tertiary care center, University Hospital in Newark, NJ. The observer observes and grades patient interviews, scoring against established criteria using an adapted version of the Kalamazoo grading tool. The researcher observes and grades the preoperative interview using the adapted Kalamazoo scale. At the end of the observed encounter, the anesthesia providers are asked to fill out a brief form detailing their demographic history, details regarding the providers’ length and type of clinical education and training, undergraduate education, previous communication training, number of years of practice, primary language, gender, and age will be obtained. Results: Anesthesia providers included in the study were physician anesthesiologists, residents, and nurse anesthetists. The average Kalamazoo score was 28.7 amongst all providers. There was no significant effect of provider level on the score at the p Conclusions: The data revealed anesthesia providers provide patient-centered encounters with a mean score of 28.7, which is higher than the average for providers from multiple different specialties observed in Joyce, et al. study (mean score of 25.25). The subcategories “Understanding patient’s perspective” and “reaches agreement” scored 3.86, and 3.83, respectively. This may indicate that anesthesia providers can improve on allowing the patient to communicate their understanding of anesthesia, as well as collecting information from the patient that can affect their anesthesia (i.e., severe nausea following previous anesthesia).

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• The Anesthetic Challenges of Caring for a Pediatric Patient With Incontinentia Pigmenti: A Case Report

  A&A Practice · 2021-01-01

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Incontinentia pigmenti (IP) is a rare X-linked dominant disorder. We present a case of an infant with IP who was brought to the operating room for panretinal diode photocoagulation under general anesthesia. The anesthesia team was unable to obtain intravenous access even with instruments such as a vein finder and ultrasound. Anesthesia for IP patients also poses challenges such as prevention of the oculocardiac reflex, obesity and airway management, and preemptive measures for intravenous access due to skin manifestations. Patients with IP may present with many challenges for the anesthesiologist during all phases of anesthetic management.

  PublisherDOI

• Application of Ketamine in Current Practice of Anesthesiology

  IntechOpen eBooks · 2021-11-02

  book-chapterOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Ketamine was discovered in 1964 by merging a ketone with an amine. Patients described feeling disconnected like they were floating in outer. Thus, it was characterized as a dissociative anesthetic. It is a unique drug that expresses hypnotic, analgesic, and amnesic effects. No other drug used in clinical practice produces these three important effects at the same time. Its newly found neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory, antitumor effects and low dose applications have helped to widen the clinical profile of ketamine. Ketamine as an analgesic adjunct in chronic pain patients is currently being researched. Combined use of ketamine and an opiate analgesic has been found to provide good perioperative pain control with reduction in symptoms such as nausea and vomiting, sedation, and respiratory insufficiency.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Spinal arteriovenous malformation in a pediatric patient with a history of congenital syphilis: a case report

  BMC Pediatrics · 2021-05-19 · 4 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  BACKGROUND: Spinal arteriovenous malformations in children are extremely rare and pose great risk for intraoperative hemorrhage. Congenital syphilis sometimes presents with vascular symptoms, however, there is little published on patients with a history of congenital syphilis presenting with spinal arteriovenous malformations. CASE PRESENTATION: A 15-month-old female with a history of congenital syphilis presented with urinary retention, fever, and subacute onset of paraplegia. MRI showed a lesion at T8-L1, angiogram was performed which confirmed the presence of a complex type IVc arteriovenous malformation and fistula from Artery of Adamkiewicz at L1-L2. It also showed peri medullary dilated veins and a pseudoaneurysm that compressed the spinal cord at T8-T10. Somatosensory evoked potentials and motor-evoked potentials were not recordable on the bilateral lower extremities prior to surgery. Once the patient was optimized for surgery, osteoplastic laminotomies from T6-T12 were performed. The dura was opened and the intradural, intramesenchymal hematoma was evacuated. There were two episodes of brisk arterial bleeding with hypotension during resection of the hematoma. The patient was taken to the angiography suite from the OR to successfully coil the large aneurysm. Intraoperative spinal cord monitoring remained undetectable in the bilateral lower extremities. The patient's paraplegia remained unchanged from preoperative presentation. CONCLUSION: Congenital syphilis may present with vascular changes that might impact surgical approaches and treatment outcomes in patients with spinal arteriovenous malformations. Preparation for massive transfusion and intraoperative monitoring are imperative in ensuring a safe perioperative experience.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Anesthesia and the Developing Brain: A Review of Sevoflurane-induced Neurotoxicity in Pediatric Populations

  Clinical Therapeutics · 2021-03-02 · 69 citations

  reviewSenior authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI