The case.
An obese 86 year old female is bought to ED by private car with a 5-6 day history of progressive dyspnoea and fevers. She is promptly rushed into the resus bay in extremis with cyanosis & poor respiratory effort. She is hypoxic (SaO2 72%), febrile, tachycardic to 124/min & has a systolic BP of 98mmHg.
As you provide inspiratory assistance with a bag-valve mask & 100% O2, your team connects monitoring & gets IV access. This is her venous blood gas & CXR…
The IPPV improved things. Her SaO2 rose to the mid-90’s and her level of consciousness improved to the point that she maintained her airway & posture in bed… There are multiple issues here; Whilst we commence fluid resuscitation, IV antibiotics & early goal-directed therapy, we decide to trial non-invasive ventilation as a temporizing measure. This allows time to optimise her haemodynamics & discuss her management with the family…
Our decision to intubate this lady seemed straight forward due to the following reasons… For an excellent discussion on the decision-making process surrounding intubation, see Andy Neil’s post “Decision to intubate”… Essentially, we make a conscious decision to commit to a delayed sequence intubation ….
So….. This is what we did; The patient is induced sitting bolt upright with NIV still in place. We use 100mg Ketamine (~1mg/kg) & 100mg suxamethonium. As she fasiculates, we lower her onto the ready-made ramp & my airway assistant takes off the BiPAP mask, replacing it with nasal prongs which are cranked to 15L/min. The actual intubation runs smoothly. A grade 2 laryngoscopy with tube placed over a bougie (my ‘go-to’ first preference for all intubations). Her SaO2 remains above 96% throughout and her BP doesn’t budge. We start her on a lung protective 6mL/kg tidal volume and titrate up her RR to target a falling ETCO2 whilst keeping an eye on her volume-loops to avoid breath-stacking… This is her 10 minutes post-intubation…
I’ve been meaning to share this case for sometime now. It was actually a patient that I saw on one of my first night shifts in a new department. For my mate Alex & I, it served as a brilliant display of the powerful influence that online learning, podcasts and FOAM can have on our everyday practice. Neither of us had had formal teaching on such a scenario, but the application of various lessons (EGDT, DSI, apnoeic oxygenation) served us well on the night & truly made a difference to this patients outcome !! Thanks for reading,
Chris.
thanks Chris. Not sure if this is counted as DSI? Did the bIPAP require sedation to tolerate?
Hi Minh,
The BiPAP did not require sedation for tolerance, so I guess it may not be a true ‘DSI’. I believe her CO2-narcosis was doing all the sedation we required for the job…
I still think the decision to delay the RSI gave us time to prepare her (& ourselves) for the difficult task ahead, particularly the PEEP and 100% O2 optimising her pre-oxygenation. The IV fluid surely gave us a slight ‘buffer’ in preserving her haemodynamic profile.
Most importantly the delay allowed us to discuss matters with the family to ensure we were doing the right thing by this elderly patient ! (Just because we can, doesn’t necessarily mean we should).
C.
Great case and great management. Not DSI, but that’s ok. NIPPV Preox is what this is and that is a good thing.
Chris,
Another great post. NIPPV as bridge to ETI working to a tee. Battle at my ED is always “can we BIPAP a pneumonia?” which is frustrating. This case is anecdotal evidence of its great utility!
-Elisha
sorry Chris if I came across negtively. not my intention. good teaching case to share, thankyou. it was coincidental as the day you posted I had a question from a resident about how to learn DSI, ketamine, NODESAT…all these novel concepts..well maybe ketamine not so novel 🙂
It made me reflect on a deeper issue that Scott and others raised a while ago and has been a silent undercurrent to the FOAMEd movement.
How does one learn somethings that your peers and supervisors are clearly not supporting, not aware of nor interested in learning? How do you find the balance between positive educational debate/discussion versus appearing as a lone wolf and arrogant know it all?
And how do you do this when you are a junior trainee? How do you strike the balance between evidence, eminence and patient safety?
Your case points to these issues which is why I felt compelled to comment on firstly the definition of DSI since it is by all accounts still a controversial technique and secondly the nature of learning and professional development in the new world of FOAMEd, asynchronous learning and narrowing of the information/knowledge gap.
Would you be interested in podcating this on PHARM? Scott, you too?
Hey Minh,
Sorry for the delayed reply.
Firstly, no offense taken 😛
Secondly; You certainly raise some great questions & I’d love the opportunity to discuss these with you further !!
Chris.