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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Indian J Med Paediatr Oncol 2012; 33(04): 233-235
DOI: 10.4103/0971-5851.107090
CASE REPORT

Innovative use of the fiberoptic bronchoscope

Kaveri A Mehta
Department of Anaesthesia, Grant Medical College and J.J. Group of Hospitals, Mumbai, India
,
Reshma P Ambulkar
Department of Anaesthesia Critical Care & Pain, Tata Memorial Centre, Parel, Mumbai, India
,
Kailash S Sharma
Department of Anaesthesia Critical Care & Pain, Tata Memorial Centre, Parel, Mumbai, India
,
Devendra A Chaukar
Department of Surgical Oncology, Tata Memorial Centre, Parel, Mumbai, India
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Abstract

Tracheostomy can be challenging, especially in the presence of edema or infiltrative malignancy. We present a case in which a fiberoptic bronchoscope that is routinely used for difficult intubation helped to locate the trachea in an emergency situation. A 50 year-old male, a diagnosed case of anaplastic carcinoma of thyroid, presented with respiratory distress and was immediately taken to the operating theater for an emergency tracheostomy. Following an inhalational induction, the patient was intubated with an endotracheal tube. Surgical tracheostomy was extremely difficult as, on neck exploration, there was a plaque of disease infiltrating various tissue planes. When even after considerable dissection the trachea could not be located, we passed a fiberoptic bronchoscope through the endotracheal tube. This helped as it was seen as a trans- illumination and the tracheal position could be confirmed. The rest of the tracheostomy was uneventful.

Keywords

Anaplastic carcinoma of thyroid - difficult tracheostomy - fiberoptic bronchoscope


Publication History

Article published online:
20 July 2021

© 2012. Indian Society of Medical and Paediatric Oncology. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.)

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