Case Reports in Anesthesiology
Volume 2011, Article ID 359867, 4 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2011/359867
Delayed Airway Obstruction after Internal Jugular Venous Catheterization in a Patient with Anticoagulant Therapy
1Department of Anesthesiology, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, 100, TzYou 1st Road, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan
2Department of Anesthesiology, Kaohsiung Municipal Hsiao-Kang Hospital, Kaohsiung 812, Taiwan
3Department of Anesthesiology, Faculty of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan
Received 5 October 2011; Accepted 31 October 2011
Academic Editors: U. Buyukkocak and P. Michalek
Copyright © 2011 Pei-Ju Wu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Delayed onset of neck hematoma following central venous catheterization without arterial puncture is uncommon. Herein, we present a patient who developed a delayed neck hematoma after repeated attempts at right internal jugular venous puncture and subsequent enoxaparin administration. Progressive airway obstruction occurred on the third day after surgery. Ultrasound examination revealed diffuse hematoma of the right neck, and fibreoptic examination of the airway revealed pharyngeal edema. After emergent surgical removal of the hematoma, the patient was extubated uneventfully.