Acute and Critical Care

Case Report

Pulmonary
Total Unilateral Obstruction by Sputum Immediately after Tracheal Bougienage: Kyunam Kim, Jonghun Jun, Miae Jeong, Songlark Choi, Youngsun Lee; Korean J Crit Care Med. 2014;29(1):32-37. Published online February 28, 2014; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4266/kjccm.2014.29.1.32

Abstract PDF: A 25-year-old man developed tracheal stenosis due to prolonged intubation for five days. Immediately after bougienage, his left lung was not possible to ventilate and emergency tracheostomy was performed to produce ample space for airflow. Fiberoptic bronchoscopy showed that his left main bronchus was totally obstructed by sputum at the entrance of the superior and inferior lobar bronchi. Inadequate airway clearance increases the risk of infection and airway obstruction. We suggest chest physiotherapy be applied to all patients in the intensive care unit (ICU), especially patients with tracheal stenosis, due to its positive impact on pulmonary functional ability and ICU stay.

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