Management of tracheal deformity during intubation: a case report.
Failure or difficulty in intubating the trachea can be either due to inability to visualize the glottis or some pathology at the level of or below the cords. This report describes a case of difficult intubation suspected of being related to neck scarring from previous surgery. Computed tomography (CT) was used to evaluate the patient's airway and revealed upper tracheal angulation. We describe a method to secure the airway in this patient with a two-person technique by rotating an oral endotracheal tube 180 degrees counterclockwise to adjust to the curvature of the trachea. Problems with intubation should be anticipated in patients with scarring of the neck, and equipment for aiding intubation should be on hand. Furthermore, we found that CT contributed to the assessment of the difficulty of intubation in this kind of patient.
Wu
Sheng-Hua
SH
Department of Anesthesiology, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Chen
Kuang-I
KI
Lu
I-Chen
IC
Huang
Shu-Hung
SH
Chu
Kuong-Shing
KS
D001999:Bronchoscopy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007442:Intubation, Intratracheal / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D014132:Trachea / Q000473:pathology*