A PATHOPHYSIOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS OF THE MEDIASTINAL EMPHYSEMA OF PARTICULAR CONCERN TO ENDOTRACHEAL ANESTHESIA

Abstract

The increased use of endotracheal tubes in inhalational anesthesia often exposes the patients to the consequences of increased pressure in the tracheo-bronchial tree sometimes to a greater extent than is true of a patient in whom intubation is not done. The effect of increased pressure during artificial assisted ventilation have been already widely discussed in the past. However, the possibility of exposing the patient to a sudden and forceful increase of pressure and to the consequence of mediastinal emphysema due to the construction of an anesthesia machine or the arrangement of the breathing circuit is rarely reported and besides, less well discussed about the pathophysiological perspectives; therefore, the following case is reported and the pathophysiological consideration to the etiology is attempted to be made.