Acute respiratory distress after upper airway obstruction following palatoplasty

Saldien, Vera; Coppejans, Hilde C.; Vercauteren, Marcel P.; Corthouts, Bob; Van de Heyning, Paul; Jorens, Philippe G.

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

« Previous Next »International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology
Volume 67, Issue 4 , Pages 403-407, April 2003

Acute respiratory distress after upper airway obstruction following palatoplasty

Vera Saldien
- UZA, Department of Anesthesiology, University Hospital of Antwerp, Wilrijkstraat 10, B-2650 Edegem, Belgium
- Corresponding author. Tel.: +32-3-8213042; fax: +32-3-8250594
Hilde C. Coppejans
- UZA, Department of Anesthesiology, University Hospital of Antwerp, Wilrijkstraat 10, B-2650 Edegem, Belgium
Marcel P. Vercauteren
- UZA, Department of Anesthesiology, University Hospital of Antwerp, Wilrijkstraat 10, B-2650 Edegem, Belgium
Bob Corthouts
- Department of Radiology, University Hospital of Antwerp, Wilrijkstraat 10, B-2650 Edegem, Belgium
Paul Van de Heyning
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Hospital of Antwerp, Wilrijkstraat 10, B-2650 Edegem, Belgium
Philippe G. Jorens
- Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital of Antwerp, Wilrijkstraat 10, B-2650 Edegem, Belgium

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