The use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation therapy in the delayed surgical repair of a tracheal injury.

Acute tracheal injury secondary to intubation can present with varying degrees of severity. Onset of symptoms occur hours or even days after the initial injury. A 34-year-old woman required surgery for a large tracheal tear after emergency intubation. The inability to adequately ventilate combined with secondary aspiration injury required that the patient be placed on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation before undergoing surgery. This case demonstrates the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation to manage a patient awaiting surgery for severe tracheal tears.