Conservative extracorporeal membrane oxygenation treatment in a tracheal injury: a case report

In patients with tracheal injuries, conservative treatment is an alternative approach when surgical treatment is difficult. However, the success rate of conservative treatment is low when a ventilator is used constantly because of underlying lung disease, and successful conservative treatment requires the maintenance of as much self-respiration as possible without a ventilator. Here, we report a case of lower tracheal injury in which both surgical and conservative treatments were difficult, but conservative treatment with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation was successful while maintaining self-respiration without a ventilator.