Abstract
Anesthetic management of endobronchial stent placement by rigid
bronchoscopy requires the maintenance of spontaneous breathing while
suppressing upper airway reflexes. The combination of superior laryngeal
nerve block (SLNB) can reduce the respiratory depression that occurs
during management under total intravenous anesthesia. The patient was
diagnosed as having lung cancer with invasion into the right middle
bronchus and stenosis of the right main bronchus on chest computed
tomography, and emergency airway stent placement was performed. Sedation
was initiated with propofol and dexmedetomidine, and ultrasound-guided
SLNB was performed after local anesthetic spraying into the oral cavity
and trachea. Bucking was minimally controlled during insertion of the
rigid bronchoscope. The patient’s intraoperative hemodynamics remained
stable, and there were no hypoxic events. SLNB can provide the
suppression of the upper airway reflex while minimizing effects on
spontaneous breathing, and may be useful for achieving balanced
anesthesia during rigid bronchoscopy.