Post-intubation tracheal rupture is a rare and potentially fatal complication. Usually fraction of post-intubation tracheal injuries are undiagnosed, misdiagnosed, or underreported, therefore, the actual incidence and outcomes of such injuries are unknown. The incidence of reported cases is approximately 1 in every 20,000 intubation attempts. The most common causes are cuff over inflation and repetitive attempts of orotracheal intubation in emergency situations. Diagnosis is based on clinical and radiological suspicion, confirmed by fiberoptic bronchoscopy. Both conservative and surgical treatments are used, and the decision is made based on patient’s profile (comorbidities, respiratory stability), characteristics of the lesion (size and location) and the time elapsed between the occurrence of the injury and the diagnosis. Surgical repair has traditionally been considered to be the treatment of choice although the current trend is conservative management. We report the case of tracheal membrane rupture due to traumatic orotracheal intubation and management with percutaneous dilatational tracheostomy.

Keywords: Tracheal rupture, percutaneous dilatational tracheostomy, bronchoscopy

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