title: Management of tracheal deformity during intubation: a case report.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Sheng-Hua
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Kuang-I
authors.initials: KI
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: I-Chen
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Shu-Hung
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Kuong-Shing
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Chu
mesh_terms: D001999:Bronchoscopy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007442:Intubation, Intratracheal / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D014132:Trachea / Q000473:pathology*