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Published on: January 17, 2011
Treating stridor with opioids: a challenging case of paradoxical vocal cord movement
Steven M Neustein1, Lisa M Taitt-Wynter, Meg A Rosenblatt
1Department of Anesthesiology, The Mount Sinai Medical Center, Box 1010, New York, NY 10029-6574, USA. steve.neustein@mountsinai.org
Abstract:
A 61 year-old patient with a history of anxiety disorder presented with stridor after an uneventful laparotomy with a general anesthetic. Postoperative analgesia was withheld secondary to intermittent oxygen desaturation. She was unresponsive to standard therapies, including racemic epinephrine and albuterol nebulizers. An otolaryngology consultant performed fiberoptic laryngoscopy and paradoxical vocal cord movement was diagnosed. When fentanyl was subsequently administered to treat her pain, the stridor resolved.
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