Difficult airway management following severe gasoline burn injury: a case report

Airway management following severe gasoline burn injury can be difficult. Because patients with severe burns may be treated at a variety of hospitals that provide emergent care, it is valuable for Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists who work in such facilities to have an understanding of the care of these patients. Airway management is an extremely important consideration in the care of burn victims. If not done in a timely manner, lethal complications may result. This article reports the experience of caring for a female who was involved in an altercation, doused with gasoline, and set on fire. Consequently, airway obstruction developed and progressively worsened. Airway management interventions began with bag-valve-mask-assisted ventilation and progressed through orotracheal intubation attempts, attempts to insert a laryngeal mask airway, cricothyrotomy, emergency tracheostomy, and surgical tracheostomy.