Apneic oxygenation for extracting a foreign body in the airway

Abstract

Apneic oxygenation consists in the administration of high flows of oxygen through a supraglottic device while the patient remains in apnea. It is explained because the alveolus with low nitrogen concertation/accumulation, with a composition mostly of oxygen, allows capillary alveolus to diffuse, as well as it generates a subatmospheric pressure capable of dragging the oxygen flow existing in the tracheobronchial tree to the alveolus itself, as long as there is no mechanical airway obstruction. The time increases considerably until oxygen saturation decreases, which is known as the safe apnea time. The experience of using this technique is presented is it was used with a five-year-old boy with no pathological history and who swallowed a foreign body (sunflower seed), which was located in the airway, specifically the right main bronchus. The foreign body was extracted by fiberoptic bronchoscopy under total intravenous anesthesia, prioritizing spontaneous ventilation until it was located; and then, due to the difficulty for its extraction, muscle relaxation and apnea were used to optimize the extraction conditions. During this period, the apneic oxygenation technique was used and maintained for twelve minutes. Pulsatile oxygen saturation was greater than 92%, enough time to complete the extraction successfully and without complications.

Keywords: oxygenation; apnea; foreign body; total intravenous anesthesia; case report.