Co-axial Endotracheal Tube Technique for Achieving One Lung Ventilation in a Toddler With a Space Occupying Malignant Tumor of the Right Lung.

ABSTRACT

Achieving one-lung ventilation in pediatrics is often challenging. In caring for these patients, the anesthesiologist must consider the child's age and size, underlying tracheobronchial anatomy, equipment availability, urgency of procedure, and as well as the experience level of the anesthesiologist. This report describes a "tube-inside-tube" technique that was adopted for providing one-lung ventilation in a toddler. The method described here involved railroading a smaller endotracheal tube over a flexible intubation video endoscope into the left mainstem bronchus coaxially through a larger endotracheal tube placed in the trachea. The technique achieved effective left-lung ventilation and isolation of the operative right lung during surgical resection of a malignant mesenchymal tumor. On completion of the procedure, double-lung ventilation could be established through the endotracheal tube in the trachea after the retraction of the video endobronchial tube.