[A case of acute airway obstruction with sharp sawdust particles, successfully treated by extracorporeal lung assist]

A 17 year-old male accidentally fell into a loading shute filled with sharp particles of sawdust. He aspirated a large amount of sawdust and suffered from acute airway obstruction accompanied by barotrauma, probably due to severe cough and tissue damage from the needle sharp sawdust particles. Ordinary mechanical ventilation was not enough to keep normal gas exchange. To sustain life, a venovenous extracorporeal lung assist, ECLA, with two Kolobow membrane lungs was performed. Under ECLA, the sawdust particles were removed from the airway one by one with a bronchofiber scope taking almost 10 hours. Then the left lung lavage was performed with normal saline to remove finer sawdust. The patient survived these procedures and was weaned from ECLA after 36 hrs. His recovery was uneventful.