Author(s)

Assem Adel Moharram^*, Hany Hasan Elsayed

Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.

Objective The benefits and risks of using double lumen tube (DLT) in open thoracotomy are not well studied and the relative contraindication for using it in cases of endobronchial tumours is not proven. In this study, we compared our experience with using DLT versus single lumen tube (SLT) for anesthesia in patients requiring an open thoracotomy for resection of endobronchial tumours. Methods A prospective observational study was performed in a single tertiary care university hospital in patients with endobronchial tumours anesthetized with single and double lumen tubes for open thoracotomy procedures over a period from 2010 till 2018. Results One hundred and six patients with endobronchial tumours were studied. There were 76 males. Median age was 32 years (14 - 62). In 96 cases, endobronchial pathology was a typical carcinoid. 58 patients were anesthetized using a DLT and 48 using a SLT. Four cases of near miss from potentially fatal intraoperative tumour migration occurred in the SLT group (p = 0.025). There was only one case of mild tumour bleeding from the DLT group and time of insertion was longer (16.2 vs. 4.5 min p < 0.001) but intraoperative surgeon’s satisfaction among the DLT group was 97% in comparison to only 71% in cases of SLT insertion (p < 0.001). Conclusions We conclude that it is safe to place a double lumen endo tracheal tube for patients with endobronchial tumours requiring open lobectomies or bronchoplastic procedures. An additional benefit of DLT use is increasing surgical satisfaction by reducing spillage and tidal volume loss during surgical anastomosis of the open airway.

Double Lumen Tube, Endobronchial Tumor, Thoracotomy

Moharram, A. and Elsayed, H. (2020) Virtues of Using a Double Lumen Tube for Anesthesia in Patients with Endobronchial Tumours Requiring Open Lung Resection or Bronchoplastic Procedures. Open Journal of Anesthesiology, 10, 1-12. doi: 10.4236/ojanes.2020.101001.