Cardiac arrest following ventilator fire: A rare cause

Abstract

Operating room fires are rare events, but when occur they result in serious and sometimes fatal consequences. Anaesthesia ventilator fire leading to cardiac arrest is a rare incident and has not been reported. We report a near catastrophic ventilator fire leading to cardiac arrest in a patient undergoing subtotal thyroidectomy. In the present case sparks due to friction or electrical short circuit within the ventilator might have acted as source of ignition leading to fire and explosion in the oxygen rich environment. The patient was successfully resuscitated and revived with uneventful recovery and no adverse sequelae. The cardiac arrest was possibly due to severe hypoxia resulting from inhalation of smoke containing high concentrations of carbon monoxide and other noxious gases.