Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Crit Care Med. Sep 9, 2022; 11(5): 335-341
Published online Sep 9, 2022. doi: 10.5492/wjccm.v11.i5.335
Cardiac arrest due to massive aspiration from a broncho-esophageal fistula: A case report
Gustavo Lagrotta, Mina Ayad, Ifrah Butt, Mauricio Danckers
Gustavo Lagrotta, Graduate Medical Education, Pulmonary Disease, Aventura Hospital and Medical Center, Aventura, FL 33180, United States
Mina Ayad, Department of Internal Medicine, Aventura Hospital and Medical Center, Aventura, FL 33180, United States
Ifrah Butt, Department of Gastroenterology, Aventura Hospital and Medical Center, Aventura, FL 33180, United States
Mauricio Danckers, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Aventura Hospital and Medical Center, Aventura, FL 331380, United States
Author contributions: Danckers M contributed conceptualization, writing original draft preparation and follow up revisions, image acquisition and editing, illustration preparation and data verification; Lagrotta G contributed writing original draft, image review and verified data; Ayad M contributed reviewing, data and image acquisition; Butt I contributed reviewing.
Informed consent statement: Written consent for publication was obtained from the patient health care proxy.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Gustavo Lagrotta, DO, Doctor, Graduate Medical Education, Pulmonary Disease, Aventura Hospital and Medical Center, 20900 Biscayne Blvd., Aventura, FL 33180, United States. gustavo.lagrottasaavedra@hcahealthcare.com
Received: January 20, 2022
Peer-review started: January 20, 2022
First decision: April 13, 2022
Revised: May 29, 2022
Accepted: July 31, 2022
Article in press: July 31, 2022
Published online: September 9, 2022
Core Tip

Core Tip: Trachea-esophageal and broncho-esophageal in the setting of caustic ingestion is an unusual complication associated with high morbidity and mortality. Close monitoring of the gastrointestinal tract patency and motility is critical to avoid gastric distention and large aspiration events with detrimental consequences. Although there is no general consensus on the initial approach to patients with fistula formation, our case proposes serial esophagogastroduodenoscopy and flexible bronchoscopy for at least 6 mo as well as a low threshold for surgical referral when progression of disease or new findings are encountered.