Difficult Tracheal Intubation Due to Lingual Tonsillar Hypertrophy: A case report. |
Hyo Seok Na, Jin Ho Bae |
Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, College of Medicine, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Korea. jhbae@med.chungbuk.ac.kr |
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Abstract |
Lingual tonsillar hypertrophy (LTH) is a rare and dangerous condition in the management of the upper airway. It is not detectable from the history or on routine preoperative physical examination. Enlarged lingual tonsils can cause posterior displacement. A 56 year old man was scheduled for emergency laryngeal microscopic surgery for the removal of a throat foreign body. After the induction of general anesthesia, intubation with a rigid laryngoscope was impossible due to LTH. After recovery of self respiration, the endotracheal tube intubation was possible by the combined use of a laryngoscope, Magil forceps and fiberoptic bronchoscope. |
Key Words:
difficult intubation; fiberoptic bronchoscope; lingual tonsillar hypertrophy |
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