An initially unnoticed piece of nasal jewelry in a parturient: implications for intraoperative airway management.
The literature documenting the anesthetic implications of body piercing consists only of a few case reports that focus exclusively on interference with airway management by oral jewelry. To date, no case reports documenting anesthetic problems resulting from the presence of nasal jewelry have been reported. We present a case of a parturient who presented for an emergency cesarean section with nasal jewelry in situ, which was unnoticed preoperatively and then became externally loosened intraoperatively. This situation necessitated fiberoptic examination of the nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal cavities and radiologic imaging studies to rule out aerodigestive tract aspiration of retained and missing piece(s) of the jewelry. Based on this experience, we now advise all laboring parturients with nasal or oral jewelry in situ to remove the hardware on admission to Labor and Delivery for safety precautions.
D000293:Adolescent; D000769:Anesthesia, Inhalation; D000773:Anesthesia, Obstetrical; D002585:Cesarean Section; D005260:Female; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy