title: Failed intubation of an unanticipated postintubation tracheal stenosis: a case report.
abstract: Encountering a patient with unanticipated laryngotracheal stenosis (LTS) during anesthetic induction is challenging for an anesthesiologist. Because routine history taking and pre-anesthetic evaluation cannot rule out the possibility of LTS, other measures should be taken. Perioperative airway maintenance is considered crucial for avoiding complications such as airway edema, bleeding, obstruction, collapse, and ultimately respiratory failure and arrest. We report an unanticipated tracheal stenosis discovered during anesthetic induction that hindered endotracheal intubation. Because airway maintenance was difficult, we postponed surgery until determining the cause of the difficult entry, considered possible therapeutic approaches (both anesthetic and surgical), and provided successful surgery with a continuous epidural block.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Chungnam National University College of Medicine, Daejeon, Korea.
authors.forename: Ann Misun
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-5491-5888
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Youn
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Chungnam National University College of Medicine, Daejeon, Korea.
authors.forename: Seok-Hwa
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Chungnam National University College of Medicine, Daejeon, Korea.
authors.forename: Soo-Yong
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Park
keywords: Airway management; Laryngotracheal stenosis