2021 Volume 25 Issue 1 Pages 119-125
There are a few reports of the use of veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VV-ECMO) in patients with difficult airway management. However, VV-ECMO using the subclavian vein under spontaneous breathing in cervical surgery has not been reported thus far.
A 69-year-old woman was scheduled to undergo surgery under general anesthesia for thyroid cancer with tracheoesophageal infiltration; however, it was predicted that both tracheal intubation and tracheostomy would be difficult due to cancer. Therefore, we planned to introduce VV-ECMO for the purpose of airway management for airway stenosis in cervical surgery. VV-ECMO was introduced under sedation to facilitate femoral vein blood removal and subclavian vein blood supply for preventing recirculation and allowing safe and efficient airway management.
