The efficiency of a foam cuffed tracheal tube has been studied in protecting the pulmonary tree from aspiration of oropharyngeal and gastric contents. Following instillation of methylene blue dye above the cuff, subsequent fibreoptic bronchoscopy revealed no instance of dye staining of the tracheal mucosa. A "bench" study was undertaken subsequently to estimate the likely pressure that the cuff...

A 46-year-old woman was anesthetized for total thyroidectomy. The thyroid was massive, deviating the trachea to the right and causing attenuation of the trachea radiologically. She had symptoms of respiratory obstruction in the supine position. Awake FOB-guided intubation was done in sitting position after airway topicalisation, and the airway was intubated with difficulty with 7.0 mm cuffed or...

Most intensive care patients require frequent tracheal toilet, a procedure usually performed by suctioning the tracheal tube. Such procedures often result in the production and dissemination of droplets. We measured the distance visible droplets disseminated during tracheal tube suctioning of patients in an adult surgical intensive care unit. Fifty consecutive suction procedures in 14 patients ...

A six year old female child with Goldenhar syndrome, dextrocardia, a single functional ventricle, transposition of great arteries, pulmonary and subpulmonary stenosis and atrial and ventricular septal defects, obstructive sleep apnea, failure to thrive, speech and developmental delay presented to our institution requiring a cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in order to delineate her card...

Results: Five patients (17%) experienced gastrostomy tube placement, 4 patients (13%) stricture, and 13 (45%) pneumonia. There was a significant difference in the fraction of gastrostomy tube placement among type II VHPL (36%), type I VHPL (0%), and type III VHPL (0%) (p=0.014). Flap size (lager than 70 cm2) was significantly associated with gastrostomy tube placement (p=0.043). No clinical var...

These two cases illustrate eight instances of aspiration of fine bore enteral feed. On three occasions the tube remained correctly placed and on five occasions the tube was noted to be in the oropharynx. Fine bore enteral feeding is popular in intensive care units because ofthe high patient acceptability and ease ofmanagement in conjunction with continuous feeding pumps. Severely ill patients, ...

conclusions this report presents a new method for lung isolation in specific cases and in the absence of certain equipment. case presentation a 41-year-old woman with a history of pharyngo-laryngo-oesophagectomy (plo) and tracheostomy was a candidate for thoracic duct ligation because of chylothorax. since the patient had tracheostmy stomal stenosis, two cuffed tracheal tubes (internal diameter...