Nasoendotracheal tube obstruction secondary to inferior turbinate impaction

This case report discusses one of the unusual complications of nasoendotracheal intubation, amputation of the inferior turbinate with its subsequent impaction of the nasoendotracheal tube. A healthy 19-year-old male underwent surgery for an open reduction and internal fixation of a fractured mandible. Several minutes after nasoendotracheal intubation, airway pressures increased, end-tidal carbon dioxide levels increased, and the patient became difficult to ventilate. The patient was extubated and then reintubated with a smaller-diameter nasoendotracheal tube through the same naris without further sequelae. After examination the tube was found to be occluded with an inferior turbinate. The increased airway pressure and elevated carbon dioxide levels were early signs of partial airway obstruction. Capnography was an important early warning device to provide information prior to changes in other vital signs. It allowed rapid detection of a potentially disastrous obstruction of the airway before the patient experienced severe cardiopulmonary complications. These facts should assist the anesthetist in focusing attention on the possible obstruction of the airway with a foreign body after nasoendotracheal intubation.