Anaesthetic mumps associated with laryngeal mask airway use — a case report

Acute postoperative sialadenitis (or the anaesthetic mumps) is a very rare complication of anaesthesia. It is not limited to general anaesthesia only. It is usually benign but can lead to complete airway obstruction. Its mechanism of action is likely multifactorial, but primarily due to obstruction of the salivary glands. In this case we present a 67-year-old female who has experienced this rare complication twice. After examining previous anaesthetics for commonality, we were able to test the hypothesis that in this particular case the anaesthetic mumps were in fact due to laryngeal mask airway (LMA) use. Presumably, this patient has anatomy whereby the LMA causes obstruction of the salivary glands, leading to this rare complication.