Using the capnograph to confirm lung isolation when using a bronchial blocker.

The endotracheal tube and bronchial blocker combination is an accepted lung isolation technique used during thoracic surgery. A reliable and inexpensive method of confirming lung isolation that uses capnographic monitoring of the bronchial blocker central lumen is presented. As the bronchial blocker balloon is inflated, lung isolation is confirmed when the normal respiratory variation of carbon dioxide (CO(2)) is replaced by a persistent plateau CO(2) waveform.