Non-surgical treatment of severe trachea injury due to tracheal intubation-a case report.

Background: According to statistics, airway injuries occur most often as a result of car accidents or blunt force-induced chest trauma. However, in recent years, there has been an increase in the number of reports of medically induced tracheal injuries compared to the previous ones, mostly due to operations such as tracheal intubation and neck surgery. Case Description: In this article, we report a case of severe tearing of the membranous part of the trachea due to tracheal intubation for total lung lavage in The First Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu Medical College. This was a 52-year-old female patient who was admitted to the hospital, for recurrent cough and sputum for more than 6 months with 3 days of exacerbation. Her diagnosis was silicosis. During the whole lung lavage, the patient suffered from a severe airway laceration. After comprehensive consideration, we decided to abandon surgical and invasive treatment procedures and instead chose a conservative treatment plan. Eventually, the self-repair of the damaged membranous part of the airway was achieved. Conclusions: Most past case reports of tracheal injuries have opted for a surgical approach to treatment. However, after reviewing the development of the treatment plan for this patient, we concluded that a shift from surgical to nonsurgical treatment was feasible.