Emergency airway management of a patient with mediastinal mass

Appropriate airway management is an essential part of anaesthesiologist's role. Extrinsic airway compression by rapidly growing mediastinal masses represents a therapeutic challenge to anaesthesiologists. We report a case of successful airway management in a patient with obstructed airway. The patient was a middle aged female who presented with severe respiratory distress secondary to a huge mediastinal mass. CT scan showed widened superior mediastinum with circumferential narrowing of trachea and left main bronchus. Her condition continued to deteriorate during her hospital admission, so emergency intubation and tracheostomy was planned. She was intubated with the help of a bougie using size 6 microlaryngoscopic tube after inhalational induction and mediastinal tracheostomy was done. Intraoperatively, there were few episodes of hypotension and desaturation, otherwise rest of intraoperative course remained uneventful.