Rescue of cardiopulmonary collapse in anterior mediastinal tumor: case presentation and review of literature.

BACKGROUND

Anterior mediastinal tumors in pediatric patients may cause severe cardiorespiratory compromise and sudden collapse, especially when anesthesia or analgesic is required.

METHOD: We report a 15-year-old boy with a huge anterior mediastinal tumor that caused complete obliteration of right pulmonary artery and left bronchus, that is, complete ventilation-perfusion mismatch. Cardiopulmonary collapse happened after meperidine injection, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) was instituted.

RESULTS

We then put bronchial stents to restore airway patency and proceeded chemotherapy under ECMO support. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation was removed 40 hours later. However, the patient died of neutropenic sepsis 9 days after admission.

CONCLUSIONS

We emphasized the devastating consequences of anterior mediastinal tumor compression on the pulmonary artery and the contralateral-side bronchus and the use of ECMO as a rescue.