Postoperative Tracheal Extubation

Although tracheal intubation receives much attention, especially with regard to management of the difficult airway, tracheal extubation has received relatively little emphasis. The scope and significance of problems occurring after tracheal extubation are real. Adverse outcomes involving the respiratory system comprise the single largest class of injury reported in the ASA Closed Claims Study [1]. Obvious adverse events related to tracheal extubation accounted for 35 of the 522 or 7% of the respiratory-related claims. Certainly additional morbidity related to extubation could be accounted for in other categories of adverse respiratory events, such as inadequate ventilation, airway obstruction, bronchospasm, and aspiration. Others have documented a 4%-9% incidence of serious adverse respiratory events in the immediate postextubation period [2,3] and preventable anesthesia-related etiologies were noted as important by Ruth et al. [2]. Mathew et al. [4], in a retrospective review of more than 13,000 anesthetics, noted that emergency tracheal reintubations occurred in only 0.19% of patients, and that the majority of tracheal reintubations were due to preventable anesthesia-related factors. Perhaps a greater percentage of patients experience postextubation difficulties but do not require reintubation of the trachea. Reasons for tracheal reintubation in the intensive care setting may differ, but the reported incidence in that arena is similarly 4% [5]. Anesthesiologists recognize the immediate postextubation period as one where patients are particularly vulnerable. Events such as laryngospasm, aspiration, inadequate airway patency, or inadequate ventilatory drive can occur and frequently result in hypoxemia. 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