[Prehospital cricothyrotomy: a case report]

Abstract

Case report of a patient with tonsillitis treated with anti-inflammatory. The patient presented a dyspnoea and finally a cardiac arrest. The oral intubation was impossible and cricothyrotomy had to be performed with a catheter over needle technique. We found a total airway obstruction due to an epiglottis abscess. The patient died few days later of sepsis. We recommend having wire-guided cricothyrotomy technique or catheter-over-needle technique in all prehospital emergency unit and having emergency physician trained to the cricothyrotomy technique.