Sudden difficulty in ventilation due to massive subcutaneous emphysema during laparoscopic cholecystectomy

: A 56-year-old woman with cholecystolithiasis was scheduled for laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Anesthesia was induced with fentanyl and propofol IV, and the trachea was intubated using vecuronium IV. Anesthesia was maintained with 60% nitrous oxide and propofol intravenously, and vecuronium was used for muscle relaxation. Following induction of carbon dioxide pneumoperitoneum, PETCO2 slightly increased. During pneumoperitoneum PETCO2 as easily controlled by increasing minute volume of ventilation. Fifty minutes after the start of pneumoperitoneum, suddenly the peak airway pressure increased and PETCO2 reached 70 mmHg continuously. At this time, severe massive subcutaneous emphysema from the anterior thorax to the head and neck was noted, and the manual lung ventilation was very difficult. After discontinuation of pneumoperitoneum, PETCO2 gradually decreased with improvement of the neck subcutaneous emphysema. At the same time the lung ventilation improved. We speculate that major causes of difficulty in ventilation were the decreased compliance and the tracheal tube comppression, which were due to massive subcutaneous emphysema. Our findings show that we have to stop pneumoperitoneum immediately, when we find a sudden increase of the peak airway pressure or PETCO2 with subcutaneous emphysema during laparoscopic cholecystectomy.