Acute upper airway obstruction due to tonsillitis necessitating emergency cricothyroidotomy

Infection and sudden lethal upper airway occlusion - An overview

A multitude of conditions may cause acute and unexpected upper airway compromise in both children and adults. These include mechanical blockage of the airways either from internal obstructions due to inhaled food or foreign objects, or from external compression. In addition, kinking of the airway in cases of positional asphyxia may compromise aeration. Infections represent another cause of airway narrowing with the potential for occlusion. The case of a 64-year-old man with acute laryngo-epiglottitis is used to demonstrate that death may occur from infections in previously structurally-normal airways. Infections may compromise respiration due to acute airway occlusion from intraluminal material/mucus, mural abscesses or from acutely inflamed and oedematous mucosa with adherent tenacious mucopurulent secretions. External compression from nearby abscesses may also critically narrow air passages.

Infectious mononucleosis presenting as near-fatal tracheal obstruction

Infectious mononucleosis (IM) caused by Epstein-Barr virus is a self-limiting condition and usually carries a benign course. It is usually seen in adolescents and young adults. However, complications can occur in a small percentage of patients such as splenic rupture, myocarditis, and meningitis. Tracheal obstruction as a result of IM is extremely rare. In this case report, we highlighted a rare complication of nearly fatal tracheal obstruction in a young patient of IM that was managed timely by emergency tracheostomy.

Video-Assisted Intubating Stylet Technique for Difficult Intubation: A Case Series Report

Induction of anesthesia can be challenging for patients with difficult airways and head or neck tumors. Factors that could complicate airway management include poor dentition, limited mouth opening, restricted neck motility, narrowing of oral airway space, restricted laryngeal and pharyngeal space, and obstruction of glottic regions from the tumor. Current difficult airway management guidelines include awake tracheal intubation, anesthetized tracheal intubation, or combined awake and anesthetized intubation. Video laryngoscopy is often chosen over direct laryngoscopy in patients with difficult airways because of an improved laryngeal view, higher frequency of successful intubations, higher frequency of first-attempt intubation, and fewer intubation attempts. In this case series report, we describe the video-assisted intubating stylet technique in five patients with difficult airways. We believe that the intubating stylet is a feasible and safe airway technique for anesthetized tracheal intubation in patients with an anticipated difficult airway.

WITHDRAWN: The clinical application of an innovative tracheotomy fixation belt in critically ill patients

Ahead of Print article withdrawn by publisher.