INTUBATION-INDUCED TRACHEAL STENOSIS - The urgent need for permanent solution - - Case Report -

The most common site for the occurrence of intubation-induced tracheal damage is at the areain contact with the inflatable cuff. After the change from high-pressure to low-pressure cuffs, majortracheal lesions still continue to occur. This is a case of tracheal stenosis that occurred after 7 daysof intubation with standard cuffed tube whose cuff pressure was assessed by subjective means.Three weeks later, patient was in need of reintubation, the trachea was found to be stenotic at he site of the previous tube cuff. Emergency tracheostomy had to be performed and computed xial tomography (CT) confirmed the tracheal stenosis. A month later, the patient had another ardiac arrest from which he did not recover. Our message in this report is to throw light and alert linicians involved in tracheal intubation, of the presence of the Lanz endotracheal tube whose pilot balloon is designed to automatically regulate the intra-cuff pressure and thus prevent the occurrence ftracheal stenosis due to high pressure. We strongly recommend the presence of Lanz tracheal ubes as standard emergency equipment in intensive care settings and in any situation in which uff pressure is likely to increase.