A cause of intubation failure: a subglottic bridge]

We report the case of a patient with a history of facio-thoracic burns, the treatment of which included prolonged intubation, whose trachea could not be intubated because of a subglottic obstacle. The ventilation was easily controlled with a laryngeal mask. At the end of surgery for postburn cheloids, laryngoscopy through the laryngeal mask showed a transversal subglottic laryngeal band, a probable sequela of the previous prolonged intubation. The band was resected one week later. The conventional indicators for difficult intubation cannot detect the laryngotracheal obstacles to tracheal tube insertion.