Q: What one preventive masure may help to reduce the hazard of fire during tracheostomy insertion due to electrocautery?


Answer: Maintaing the integrality of ETT cuff

ETT cuff serves as a barrier to prevent oxygen leaking out from the trachea to be exposed to the sparks of electrocautery while the procedure is under way, and thus it plays a significant role in the avoidance of airway fire induced by electrocautery. Moreover, lowering of the FiO2 also may help.



Reference:

Wu CC, Shen CH, Ho WM. -  Endotracheal tube fire induced by electrocautery during tracheostomy--a case report. -  Acta Anaesthesiol Sin. 2002 Dec;40(4):209-13.