Gastric rupture: an esophageal obturator airway complication

The esophageal obturator airway (EOA) is in common use throughout the country. This report outlines an unexpected and serious complication: gastric rupture due to overinsufflation. A survey of the literature revealed that most of the known complications involve direct trauma to the esophagus or trachea. In our case, the patient's stomach was ruptured due to vigorous manual ventilation where air was forced into the stomach under pressure, rather than into the lungs, due to failure of the air pressure cuff utilized in the EOA.