Early administration of venovenous extracorporeal life support for status asthmaticus during anaesthetic induction: case report and literature review

Here we report a case of a 40-year-old man who visited the emergency room with severe chest pain. He showed a Stanford type B aortic dissection on chest-computed tomography. Despite medical treatment and malperfusion of lower extremities, acute renal failure developed; hence thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) was considered under general anaesthesia. After endotracheal intubation, ventilation with low tidal volume required high inspiratory airway pressure. An arterial blood gas analysis showed PaCO2 of 61.8mmHg and PaO2 of 26.4mmHg, indicating a status asthmaticus of hypoxaemia and hypercarbia, which did not respond to bronchodilator or mechanical ventilation. Impending cardiac arrest was treated using venovenous extracorporeal life support, which was administered by percutaneous femoral cannulation. Surgical procedure was completed without any complications. Extracorporeal life support was weaned at one day after the operation. The patient was discharged without any complications.