Anesthésie pour extraction d'un corps étranger trachéobronchique

Inhalation of foreign bodies may produce acute respiratory insufficiency in children especially under 3 years. The diagnosis is commonly easy to perform due to clinical symptoms of inhalation. Chest X-ray is poorly contributive but helicoidal CT-scan may allow to perform virtual bronchoscopy to localize the obstruction. Foreign body extraction is performed under general anaesthesia. The anaesthetic technique deals with the need of adequate ventilation and level of anaesthesia to avoid arterial oxygen desaturation, laryngospasm and bronchospasm. The choice between spontaneous and controlled ventilation depends on the site of obstruction and on the extraction technique. Intravenous anaesthesia is easier to handle for maintaining a stable level of anaesthesia but inhalation anaesthesia better provides adequate conditions for spontaneous ventilation.