Airway burn during tracheostomy in the operating room: a case report

Abstract

Fire in operating rooms (ORs) has been a topic of interest for the past many years. Staff persons dealing daily life scenarios in ORs should anticipate and firefighting and rescue gear must be made available. In case of fire during any procedure specially during ENT surgery, maxillofacial surgeries, or whenever the use of diathermy and laser is used in close proximity to airway. We report a case of a 54 yrs old female, who caught airway fire in OR due to the use of unipolar diathermy. She was planned for tracheostomy as prolonged ventilation was expected in that patient. Airway fire algorithm was followed with low FiO₂ as much as patient tolerated, affected area was flushed with normal saline and soaked gauzes were placed. The airway fire was successfully controlled. OR airway fire can be managed with proper planning, baseline knowledge, skills, fire protocols, algorithms awareness and rapid response team work.

Keywords: Airway Fire; Tracheostomy; Diathermy; Laser; Burnt Cuff; ETT

Citation: Rahat S, Ishaq M, Ghafoor AUR, Ahmed I, Ayzed A. Airway burn during tracheostomy in the operating room: a case report. Anaesth. pain intensive care 2025;29(1):132-134. DOI: 10.35975/apic.v29i1.2654

Received: May 09, 2024; Reviewed: October 26, 2024; Accepted: January 01, 2025