Another airway fire: When will such accidents cease?

Abstract

The information available to the author indicates that the only fatalities attributable to laser emissions (beams) have resulted from medical laser procedures and that the most prevalent cause of death and serious injury during laser surgery is airway fires. The airway fire reported in this paper is the second such case for which the author has served as an expert witness. The first case was presented at ILSC-2003 [1] and in that paper the question, “When will laser-induced airway fires cease?”, was posed. As the case herein described was settled out of court in 2006 and as other airway fires have occurred since 2003, it is most appropriate to ask this question again. Both the immediate and root causes for this particular airway fire and for such fires in general will be presented. This paper closes with a protocol, which if followed consistently during CO2 laser airway surgery, should significantly minimizing, if not eliminating, the likelihood of such fires.The information available to the author indicates that the only fatalities attributable to laser emissions (beams) have resulted from medical laser procedures and that the most prevalent cause of death and serious injury during laser surgery is airway fires. The airway fire reported in this paper is the second such case for which the author has served as an expert witness. The first case was presented at ILSC-2003 [1] and in that paper the question, “When will laser-induced airway fires cease?”, was posed. As the case herein described was settled out of court in 2006 and as other airway fires have occurred since 2003, it is most appropriate to ask this question again. Both the immediate and root causes for this particular airway fire and for such fires in general will be presented. This paper closes with a protocol, which if followed consistently during CO2 laser airway surgery, should significantly minimizing, if not eliminating, the likelihood of such fires.