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Minerva Anestesiologica 2008 November;74(11):675-7

Copyright © 2008 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

A novel use of esophageal tracheal airway: the control of torrential oral bleeding

Bhagwat A. G. ¹, Saxena K. N. ¹, Dua K. ², Sharma R. ¹, Jain A. ¹

¹ Department of Anesthesiology, Intensive Care and Perioperative Medicine, Maulana Azad Medical College and associated Lok Nayak Hospital, New Delhi, India; ² Department of Anesthesiology, Hull Royal Infirmary, Hull, UK

Combitube® has been included in the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) difficult airway algorithm for the emergency management of patients who can be neither intubated nor ventilated. The main advantages of the Combitube® are minimal training required for its use and blind insertion with 90% success rate upon first attempt. The authors report a case of torrential oral bleeding in which the airway was secure and isolated by Combitube®. The pharyngeal cuff of the Combitube® was overinflated so as to create a tamponade effect to control otherwise uncontrollable and inaccessible oral bleeding.