Acute respiratory distress after upper airway obstruction following palatoplasty

Received 20 October 2001; received in revised form 16 October 2002; accepted 21 October 2002.

Abstract

We report a case of acute respiratory distress after upper airway obstruction following routine palatoplasty in an otherwise healthy 6-year-old boy. We believe that extreme variation of intrathoracal pressure was the basis of the development of the acute respiratory distress. We recommend after palatoplasty a more than careful postoperative clinical observation to detect and treat postoperative obstruction and hypoxemia.

Keywords: Palatoplasty, Palate, Respiratory distress, Acute respiratory distress syndrome, Surgery, Edema

a UZA, Department of Anesthesiology, University Hospital of Antwerp, Wilrijkstraat 10, B-2650 Edegem, Belgium

b Department of Radiology, University Hospital of Antwerp, Wilrijkstraat 10, B-2650 Edegem, Belgium

c Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Hospital of Antwerp, Wilrijkstraat 10, B-2650 Edegem, Belgium

d Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital of Antwerp, Wilrijkstraat 10, B-2650 Edegem, Belgium

Corresponding author. Tel.: +32-3-8213042; fax: +32-3-8250594

PII: S0165-5876(02)00382-8

doi:10.1016/S0165-5876(02)00382-8

12 of 25