Paediatric Anaesthesia 1998 8: 55–57 The Univent tube for single-lung ventilation in paediatric patients G.B. HAMMER MD* , J.B. BRODSKY MD* , J.H. REDPATH MD* AND W.B. CANNON MD† *Departments of Anesthesiology and †Cardiothoracic Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA Summary A Univent bronchial blocker tube was used in a ten-year-old patient undergoing videothoracoscopy. Paediatric Univent tubes offer an alternative to balloon-tipped catheters for providing single-lung ventilation (SLV) in children too small for adult size double-lumen tubes. Keywords: Intubation, tracheal; endobronchial; Equipment: bronchial blocker, double-lumen endobronchial tube Introduction Case report During intrathoracic procedures selective collapse of A ten-year-old, 40-kg girl was scheduled to undergo the operated lung provides a quiet surgical field. left videothoracoscopy for resection of pulmonary There is no need for vigorous retraction so there is blebs and talc pleurodesis. She presented with less damage to the lung. Single-lung ventilation (SLV) recurrent pneumothoraces which had been is employed in most thoracic operations on adults. conservatively treated by thoracostomy tube It is usually achieved by either bronchial blockade drainage. Her past medical history was otherwise or with a double-lumen endobronchial tube (DLT). unremarkable. Until now equipment specifically designed for SLV After placement of routine monitors, anaesthesia has been intended for adult patients. Although SLV was induced with intravenous propofol, fentanyl and utilizing a variety of balloon-tipped catheters as rocuronium, and was maintained with isoflurane and bronchial blockers has been described in small oxygen. The patient’s trachea was intubated with a children, these catheters may not be practical for 4.5 mm internal diameter (ID) cuffed Univent tracheal larger children (1). We used a new small Univent tube (Fuji Systems Corporation, Tokyo, Japan) (Figure bronchial blocker tube in a ten-year-old patient 1) using direct laryngoscopy. The patient’s lungs were undergoing videothoracoscopy in whom SLV could then ventilated through the Univent tube. Her head not have been safely achieved by other means. was turned to the right and the Univent tube was advanced into the left mainstem bronchus as confirmed by loss of breath sounds over the right thorax. The small bronchial blocker tube was then advanced 4 mm past the tip of the larger lumen and its distal balloon was inflated with 1.0 ml air. The tracheal tube was then withdrawn back into the mid- Correspondence to: Dr G. Hammer, Department of Anesthesiology, trachea. A 3.6 mm outside diameter (OD) fibreoptic Lucille Salter Packard Children’s Hospital, Stanford, CA, USA, 94305. bronchoscope (Olympus America, Inc., Melville, NY, 55  1998 Blackwell Science Ltd