Anesthesia for Emergency Rigid Bronchoscopy in a Patient With Profound Hearing-Speech Impairment and Near-Total Tracheal Stenosis: A Case Report

Abstract

Primary tracheal squamous cell carcinoma producing near-total fixed tracheal stenosis constitutes a catastrophic difficult airway scenario for emergency rigid bronchoscopy.Deaf-mute patients face added risks of agitation, tumor hemorrhage, and airway collapse due to complete loss of communication.We implemented a pragmatic two-stage sedation-ventilation strategy using spontaneous breath preservation, stratified topical airway anesthesia, and tailored high-frequency jet ventilation.This case shows that multimodal anesthesia allows safe rigid bronchoscopy in this high-risk group.Balancing spontaneous breath preservation, topical anesthesia, and stepwise sedation is critical to avert life-threatening airway complications.This approach yields favorable perioperative outcomes for comparable central airway pathology.