Abstract
Tracheal intubation is burdened by high incidence of potentially fatal complications resulting in risk of permanent hypoxic brain damage or death. In the pre-hospital emergency care in Germany, there was found incidence of unrecognized esophageal intubations performed by physicians of emergency medical services with use of anesthetics and muscle relaxants up to 6.7% with lethality of 80%.
The authors report a case describing unrecognized esophageal intubation and highlight necessity of using capnography to avoid this complication. The current multidisciplinary Statement on exhaled carbon dioxide monitoring in intensive care is also mentioned.