title: Acromegaly and papillomatosis: difficult intubation and use of the airway exchange catheter.
abstract: We describe the anaesthetic management of a patient with acromegaly scheduled for transsphenoidal resection of a pituitary tumour who was found at intubation to have coexisting laryngeal papillomatosis. Oral intubation was impossible using both direct and fibreoptic techniques. Nasal fibreoptic intubation was successful but precluded the transsphenoidal approach to surgery. A Cook Airway Exchange Catheter [Cook (UK) Ltd, Monroe House, Letchworth SG6 1LN] was used with a Negus bronchoscope to convert to oral intubation and allow completion of surgery without resort to tracheostomy.
authors.affiliation: Specialist Registrar, Department of Anaesthesia, Salford Royal Hospital NHS Trust, Stott Lane, Salford M6 8HD, UK.
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Hulme
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Blues
mesh_terms: D000172:Acromegaly / Q000150:complications*; D000075202:Contraindications; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007442:Intubation, Intratracheal / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D007822:Laryngeal Neoplasms / Q000150:complications*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010212:Papilloma / Q000150:complications*; D014139:Tracheostomy