How To: Catheter-Guided Basket Removal of a Difficult-to-Reach Pediatric Airway Foreign Body

by Alexander Gabinet-Equihua, MD, Sharon L. Cushing, MD, MSc, Evan J. Propst, MD, MSc, Nan Gai, MD, and Nikolaus E. Wolter, MD, MSc •

Figure 2. Combined flexible suction catheter and urological wire basket. Bending the tip of the suction catheter allowed off-axis redirection of the wire basket.

Figure 2. Combined flexible suction catheter and urological wire basket. Bending the tip of the suction catheter allowed off-axis redirection of the wire basket.

Results

Use of a bent flexible suction catheter to guide a urological wire basket during rigid bronchoscopy is a feasible technique for foreign body removal in the distal pediatric airway. It presents an additional tool in the otolaryngologist’s arsenal for objects that are difficult to access and manipulate with standard instruments and techniques.