SHORT COMMUNICATIONA Potential Method for Safe Recovery from Recognized InadvertentEsophageal Intubation

摘要

How to proceed following inadvertent esophageal intubation and what to do with the misplaced endotrachealtube is controversial and not specifically addressed in the difficult airway algorithm from the American Society of Anesthesiologists.Here we describe a simple and effective strategy to manually ventilate the patient with an air cushioned face mask whileleaving the endotracheal tube in the esophagus to provide a conduit for stomach content suction until definitive endotrachealintubation. We describe clinical circumstances in which we used this method successfully.Whether to leave the endotracheal tube in the esophagus or what to do with it should be specifically addressed in difficultairway algorithms.