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CC BY 4.0 · J Neuroanaesth Crit Care 2023; 10(02): 118-120
DOI: 10.1055/s-0043-1763269
Case Report

High-Flow Nasal Oxygen Therapy for Management of Postoperative Pneumocephalus

Fahmeena Begum 
1   Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad, Telangana, India
,
Srilata Moningi
1   Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad, Telangana, India
,
T Narasimha Murthy 
1   Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad, Telangana, India
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Abstract

Postoperative pneumocephalus (PNC) is very common in craniotomy surgeries. It can be asymptomatic or if present in more volumes can cause symptoms such as lethargy, headache, confusion, or even severe neurological deficit. Treatment of pneumocephalus with supplemental oxygen via facemask is a common neurosurgical practice. There is not much evidence of use of high-flow nasal oxygen therapy (HFNOT) for the management of PNC. Here we report a case of an 8-year-old boy with postoperative symptomatic pneumocephalus, which resolved with the application of supplemental oxygen via a high-flow nasal cannula with 30 L/min flow and FiO2 of 0.7 over 72 hours. High-flow nasal oxygen therapy can be an effective modality of treatment for postoperative PNC with added advantages of patient comfort and maintenance of warmth and moisture of the respiratory tract.

Keywords

postoperative pneumocephalus - supplemental oxygen - high-flow nasal oxygen therapy


Publication History

Article published online:
14 June 2023

© 2023. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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