Management of membranous tracheal rupture due to the endotracheal tube cuff during thyroid surgery

Tracheobronchial ruptures can be extremely dramatic and life threatening and are encountered in approximately 5 out of 100,000 cases after orotracheal intubation. They can occur as a result of intubation, tracheostomy, and bronchoscopy. In this case report, we presented a 56-year-old female patient with a history of thyroid surgery 27 years prior who presented to our clinic with recurrent multinodular goiter. The patient underwent a complementary complication-free thyroidectomy assisted by intermittent intraoperative nerve monitoring. After hemostasis, final controls involving digital palpation of the possible remnants of the thyroid gland and a search for pathological lymph nodes in the central compartments, a mass structure with a rubbery consistency suspicious for residue thyroid tissue was palpated in both posterolateral aspects of the trachea, but more prominently in the left. The anesthesia team was asked to decrease the cuff pressure, assuming that the palpated mass could be the cuff of the endotracheal tube, and the mass was noted to shrink. The membranous tracheal rupture due to the endotracheal tube cuff was closed with sutures running superiorly, and a superiorly based strap muscle flap was placed over during thyroid surgery. The patient was discharged on day 7. A simple routine digital examination by the attending surgeon dealing with the thyroid surgery would contribute favorably to prognosis, as such a precaution would allow early repair in cases where such injuries occur.