Abstract
Tracheal injury, although rare in Japan, has been increasing recently. During the past 15 years there were 8 cases of tracheal injury. The cause of injury was traffic accident in 2 cases, factory accident in 2 and iatrogenic trauma in 4. This paper is a report of two rare cases of tracheal injury due to iatrogenic trauma. Case : A 25-year-old female had received tracheostomy for the management of pneumonia. Massive hemorrhage from a tracheal-brachiocephalic artery fistula occurred 5 months after tracheostomy. She was successfully treated by surgical repair in an emergency operation. This was a very rare case, which was fortunately treated successfully by emergency operation. Case : A 52-year old male received left sleeve upper lobectomy for squamous cell carcinoma, using double lumen endotracheal tube. Tracheal longitudinal rupture of the membranous portion was shown bronchofiberscopy 2 days after operation. The laceration was successfully repeired by interrupted sutures. His postoperative course was uneventful and bronchoscopic findings showed clear healing of the lacerated site. Double lumen endo-tracheal tubes should be used carefully because of their associated complications, such as atelectasis and bronchial rupture.
