• Can J Anaesth · Jul 2010

    Case Reports

    Failed videolaryngoscope intubation in a patient with diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis and spinal cord injury.

    • Calvin Thompson, Rebecca Moga, and Edward T Crosby.
    • Department of Anesthesiology, The Ottawa Hospital, University of Ottawa, ON, Canada. cthompson@ottawahospital.on.ca
    • Can J Anaesth. 2010 Jul 1;57(7):679-82.

    PurposeA case of difficult intubation in a patient with cervical spinal cord injury with diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) is described. The trachea could not be intubated with a videolaryngoscope, and successful intubation was achieved with a laryngeal mask airway device (LMAD) and a fibreoptic bronchoscope (FOB).Clinical FeaturesA 65-yr-old male developed sudden tetraplegia after a fall. Initial attempts at securing his airway were unsuccessful with a videolaryngoscope, but success was achieved with a LMAD and a FOB. Diagnostic imaging revealed no cervical spine fracture but demonstrated severe airway distortion from DISH and a spinal cord contusion accounting for his tetraplegia. Subcutaneous neck emphysema likely secondary to difficult intubation was also identified, but it did not result in additional morbidity.ConclusionsAlthough often considered to be a benign entity, DISH can predispose patients to catastrophic cervical injury and difficult airway management. Careful review of plain radiographs in the spinal cord injury patient may assist with appropriate selection of airway interventions. The videolaryngoscope is useful for difficult airways, but its effectiveness may be compromised with an anteriorly displaced airway in combination with restricted cervical movement and limited oropharyngeal airspace.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…

Want more great medical articles?

Keep up to date with a free trial of metajournal, personalized for your practice.
1,694,794 articles already indexed!

We guarantee your privacy. Your email address will not be shared.