title: Utility of intraoperative lung ultrasonography.
abstract: A patient with an endobronchial tumor and critical airway obstruction developed hypoxia and hypercarbia and, subsequently, cardiac arrest during a palliative laser core-out excision. The differential diagnosis included tension pneumothorax, as well as airway obstruction due to swelling of residual tumor or to blood clots. In this case, empiric needle decompression could have had deleterious consequences. Immediate bedside lung ultrasonography provided real-time information leading to the stabilization of the patient. This case provides compelling motivation for anesthesiologists to acquire this easily learned skill.
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of *Anesthesiology, Perioperative Medicine and General Intensive Care Medicine and †Surgery, Salzburg General Hospital, Salzburg, Austria; ‡Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria; and §Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Edrich
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pojer
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fritsch
authors.forename: Joerg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hutter
authors.forename: Philip M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Hartigan
authors.forename: Ottokar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Stundner
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gerner
authors.forename: Marc M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Berger
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000402:Airway Obstruction; D001984:Bronchial Neoplasms / Q000150:complications; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D000860:Hypoxia; D007430:Intraoperative Care; D008168:Lung / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008297:Male; D011030:Pneumothorax; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000379:methods