Difficult Management of a Double-Lumen Endotracheal Tube and Difficult Ventilation during Robotic Thymectomy with...

Robotic surgery with carbon dioxide (CO₂) insufflation to the thorax is frequently performed to gain a better operative field of view, although its intraoperative complications have not yet been discussed in detail. We treated two patients with difficult ventilation caused by distal migration of a double-lumen endotracheal tube (DLT) during robotic thymectomy. In the first case, migration of the DLT during one-lung ventilation (OLV) occurred after CO₂ insufflation to the bilateral thoraxes was started. Oxygenation rapidly deteriorated because dependent lung expansion was restricted by CO₂ insufflation. In the second case, migration of the DLT during OLV occurred while CO₂ insufflation to a unilateral thorax and mediastinum was performed. In both cases, once migration of the DLT during OLV occurred with CO₂ insufflation, readjusting the DLT became very difficult because our manipulation of bronchofiberscopy was prevented by the robot arms located above the patient's head and because deformation of the trachea/bronchus induced by CO₂ insufflation caused a poor image of the bronchofiberscopic view. Thus, during robotic-assisted thoracoscopic surgery with CO₂ insufflation, since there is a potential risk of difficult ventilation with a DLT and since readjustment of the DLT is very difficult, discontinuing CO₂ insufflation and switching to double-lung ventilation are needed in such a situation.