Spontaneous breathing anesthesia for cervical tracheal resection and reconstruction

Yanran Zhou; Hui Liu; Xi Wu; Shuben Li; Lixia Liang; Qinglong Dong

doi:10.21037/jtd.2019.11.70

Spontaneous breathing anesthesia for cervical tracheal resection and reconstruction

J Thorac Dis. 2019 Dec;11(12):5336-5342. doi: 10.21037/jtd.2019.11.70.

Authors

Yanran Zhou¹, Hui Liu¹, Xi Wu¹, Shuben Li², Lixia Liang¹, Qinglong Dong¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Anesthesiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510120, China.
² Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510120, China.

Abstract

Background: Spontaneous breathing anesthesia (SBA) may have advantages over general anesthesia for cervical tracheal resection and reconstruction (TRR), avoiding the difficulties and complication caused by endotracheal intubation and surgical cross-field intubation. This prospective study evaluates SBA for cervical TRR.

Methods: Date was obtained from 35 patients who had cervical TRR under SBA from May 2015 to March 2019. Intravenous sedation and ultrasound-guided bilateral superficial cervical plexus block (CPB) were applied to maintain effective analgesia and sedation.

Results: Thirty-two patients with tracheal tumors and 3 patients with post-intubation tracheal stenosis underwent TRR. After the airway was opened, 29 patients resumed stable spontaneous breathing, 1 patient needed high-frequency jet ventilation, and 1 patient needed anesthesia conversion for surgical reasons.

Conclusions: Spontaneous breathing anesthesia is feasible for the cervical TRR. It can be an alternative anesthetic technique for certain patients.

Keywords: Spontaneous breathing anesthesia (SBA); cervical plexus block (CPB); tracheal resection and reconstruction (TRR).