Electrocautery-induced fire during adenotonsillectomy: report of two cases

What does it take to start an oropharyngeal fire? Oxygen requirements to start fires in the operating room

“…Fires have been reported during tracheostomy, adenotonsillectomy, endoscopic airway surgery and cutaneous surgery of the head and neck [1][2][3][4][5]. We recently surveyed members of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and found that 25% of surgical fires occurred during oropharyngeal surgery, and in particular adenotonsillectomy performed with a monopolar electrosurgical device (Bovie) [6].…”

“…We recently surveyed members of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and found that 25% of surgical fires occurred during oropharyngeal surgery, and in particular adenotonsillectomy performed with a monopolar electrosurgical device (Bovie) [6]. Unfortunately, numerous case reports exist detailing the risk of OR fire associated with adenotonsillar and oropharyngeal surgery [4,5].…”

Suction cautery and electrosurgical risks in otolaryngology

“…The majority of these 23 articles were published in Anesthesia journals with only three reports found in the otolaryngology literature [2,3,[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. In contrast, another 11 articles pertained to events that occurred during oropharyngeal procedures whereby six were found in the otolaryngology literature [4][5][6][7][8][9]11,13,[24][25][26]. Table 1 summarizes the information from these reports.…”

Cuffed tracheal tubes in children: past, present and future

“…Even more, clinical situations are now highlighted, where uncuffed tracheal tubes should no longer be used in children [44,45].…”