This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Roland D. Paegle, MD
Medical College of Wisconsin Milwaukee

JAMA. 1981;246(1):40.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

The hospital course of a comatose 17-year-old boy is a reminder that the advent of the highvolume low-pressure (HVLP) cuffed airways has not eradicated the potential for fatal intratracheal hemorrhage owing to tube tip erosion of tracheal mucosa.¹ The tube-tip-induced erosions should not be confused with the erosions of mucosa with intratracheal hemorrhage due to the cuffs of the older-style airways.²

When the patient was weaned from the respirator, the airway cuff was deflated to avoid further mucosal erosion by the cuff. The HVLP cuffed airway, however, was kept in place because (1) the stem of the tube would keep the tracheostomy stoma from closing up in case controlled mechanical ventilation again became necessary, and (2) it was conjectured that, should vomiting occur, the cuff could be reinflated quickly and aspiration prevented. Two days later pink aspirate appeared. Within a day it was followed by . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?