Large Aerodigestive Tract Foreign Body Extraction Complicated by End-Stage Dementia

Dharam Persaud-Sharma; Sayoni Saha; Jacob Poynter; Deepa Danan; Nicholas Nedeff; Jack Hagan

doi:10.7759/cureus.12822

Large Aerodigestive Tract Foreign Body Extraction Complicated by End-Stage Dementia

Cureus. 2021 Jan 20;13(1):e12822. doi: 10.7759/cureus.12822.

Authors

Dharam Persaud-Sharma¹, Sayoni Saha¹, Jacob Poynter², Deepa Danan², Nicholas Nedeff^{3

4}, Jack Hagan¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Anesthesiology, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA.
² Department of Otolaryngology, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA.
³ Department of Anesthesiology, Kendall Regional Medical Center, Miami, USA.
⁴ Department of Anesthesiology, University of Central Florida, Miami, USA.

Abstract

A foreign body in the upper aerodigestive tract can be life-threatening. It is especially challenging for surgeons and anesthesiologists working in a limited shared workspace. A case is presented of an 83-year-old woman with end-stage dementia afflicted with oral fixation as defined as overeating or putting objects in the mouth other than food. She appeared asymptomatic although she had altered baseline mentation and was found to have ingested a large foreign object. This case provides an opportunity to discuss the unique challenges of performing anesthesia on patients undergoing the extraction of a large upper aerodigestive tract foreign body, complicated by end-stage dementia.

Keywords: anesthesiology; blocked airway; dementia; ent; foreign object extraction; oral fixation; otolaryngology.

Publication types

Case Reports