Failed Awake Intubation for Critical Airway Obstruction Rescued With the Ventrain Device and an Arndt Exchange Catheter: A Case Report

A 71-year-old man with advanced vocal cord carcinoma presented with severe airway obstruction. Therapeutic anticoagulation with enoxaparin complicated management. Failure of an oral awake bronchoscopic intubation was rescued by passing a guidewire through the working channel and threading an Arndt exchange catheter into the trachea under videoscopic vision. Ventilation with the Ventrain device lasting 40 minutes (15 L/min, inspiration/expiration 1:1, 15 breaths/min), during IV anesthesia with muscle paralysis, resulted in excellent blood gas values until placement of the tracheal cannula. This case report highlights the effectiveness of a novel ventilation technique that should be considered as back-up when bronchoscopic intubation fails.