Adult foreign body (FB) aspiration is an uncommon but potentially fatal event. Options for extraction include flexible bronchoscopy (FLXB), rigid bronchoscopy (RB), and surgical extraction. We report the case of a large, smooth aspirated rock causing airway obstruction in an elderly male. RB is generally the preferred approach for extraction of a large complex FB; however, due to its size, the FB had to be removed using FLXB combined with an endobronchial blocker. In this report, we describe the anesthetic and surgical considerations and the novel technique used to extract the FB.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.