Airway Management of a Patient with Montgomery T-tube in situ undergoing Neurosurgery

Abstract

This article stipulates the airway management in a patient requiring cranial debridement and cranioplasty with a Montgomery T-tube (MTT) in situ. Anesthetic techniques that have been previously described for surgeries with MTT in situ which can be managed by applying a laryngeal mask or intubating a trachea tube easily. The airway management of patients with an MTT in situ, requiring a supine position with the head rightly tilted and flexed, has not yet been addressed. In this article, we explored some possible approaches to cope with this arising problem. We present how we managed to intubate a double-lumen endotracheal tube onto the superior tracheal limb of the T-tube since the 5.0 mm ID tracheal tube (equivalent to a 6.9 mm ED) could not pass through the tube readily. This technique could possibly be considered for patients in similar clinical scenarios.