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Acute airway obstruction, hypertension and kyphoscoliosis
Author(s) -
WRIGHT P. M. C.,
ALEXANDER J. P.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
anaesthesia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.839
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1365-2044
pISSN - 0003-2409
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2044.1991.tb09355.x
Subject(s) - medicine , kyphoscoliosis , airway obstruction , anesthesia , general anaesthesia , airway , surgery , sedation , bronchoscopy , choking , bolus (digestion) , foreign body , scoliosis , anatomy
Summary An elderly woman developed acute respiratory obstruction after choking on a bolus of food. On rigid bronchoscopy no foreign body, or anatomical obstruction was seen, but airway obstruction recurred during emergence from general anaesthesia, and was thought to be functional in nature. A recurring airway obstruction followed, relieved by induction of anaesthesia and by sedation. This was subsequently demonstrated to be caused by a tortuous aorta which impinged intermittently on the anterior tracheal wall, as a result of kyphoscoliosis of the thoracic spine. We attribute the relief of airway obstruction by general anaesthesia to a reduction in arterial blood pressure.