LAUSR

Endotracheal tube (ETT) cuff leak is a serious and a nagging problem in an intubated patient, more so during critical stages during the intraoperative period. Intraoperative cuff leaks may occur even in cases where preoperative cuff leak test performed prior had confirmed that the cuff was intact.[1,2] This offers a considerable challenge (especially in neurosurgical procedures) where access to the patient’s airway is difficult and repositioning for intubation may not be feasible. This has led to development of innovative ways to identify and manage the source of ETT cuff leak without ETT replacements. We describe a case of intraoperative ETT cuff leak during surgery for aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage which was managed with a combination of techniques to tide over the crisis.