Unexpected curious cause of serious air leakage after endotracheal intubation: A case report of tracheobronchomegaly and literature review

PurposeTracheobronchomegaly (TBM) is a rare disease with enlarged trachea and mainstem bronchi, which might not be diagnosed preoperatively because of patient’s nonsymptoms or clinicians’ overlook. These patients would be at fatal risk after general anesthesia endotracheal intubation due to severe p...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jun Xiong, Quan Zhou, Yu Li, Yanyan Sun, Yajun Zhang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-08-01
Series:Frontiers in Surgery
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsurg.2022.961186/full
Description
Summary:PurposeTracheobronchomegaly (TBM) is a rare disease with enlarged trachea and mainstem bronchi, which might not be diagnosed preoperatively because of patient’s nonsymptoms or clinicians’ overlook. These patients would be at fatal risk after general anesthesia endotracheal intubation due to severe peritubal leakage. This case may provide a helpful and informative resource for anesthesiologists and other clinicians, especially those managing patients’ airways.Clinical featureWe presented a patient undergoing elective scoliosis orthopedics who was postoperatively diagnosed with TBM. After general anesthesia endotracheal intubation, difficulty in maintaining ventilation with obvious peri-cuff air leakage made this rare disease to be suspected. The peritubal leakage was resolved by relocating the endotracheal tube to the subglottic area. Fortunately, there were no air leakage and postoperative complications.ConclusionAnesthesiologists should keep the possibility of the unpredicted anatomic abnormal respiratory tract in mind, such as TBM.
ISSN:2296-875X