An unusual cause of high peak airway pressure: Interpretation of displayed alarms

Abstract

Airway pressure monitoring is critical in modern day anesthesia ventilators to detect and warn high or low pressure conditions in the breathing system. We report a scenario leading to unexpectedly very high peak inspiratory pressure in the intraoperative period and describe the mechanism for high priority alarm activation. We also discuss the role of a blocked bacterial filter in causing sustained display of increased airway pressure. This scenario is a very good example for understanding the unique safety feature present in the Dräger ventilators and the attending anesthesiologist must have an adequate knowledge of the functioning and safety feature of the ventilators they are using to interpret the alarms in the perioperative to prevent unnecessary anxiety and intervention.

Keywords

• Anesthesia machine
• bacterial filter
• breathing circuit
• peak airway pressure