Introduction
Severe bronchospasm during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is an unusual event (1-12), with less than 20 cases have been published. However, the outcomes from such an event could have disastrous consequences. This condition presents with high airway pressure, low expiratory tidal volume, and a lack of lung deflation (1, 2), resulting in gaseous exchange and hemodynamics.
In addition, type A aortic dissection (TAAD) is a serious and fatal disease, which usually requires emergency aortic surgery undergoing CPB to prevent death from aortic rupture (13). Up until now, no report has described severe bronchospasm, which was observed during surgery for TAAD. We report on a case of severe bronchospasm immediately following CPB during aortic surgery for TAAD. Bronchospasm did not respond to any conventional therapy, necessitating veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VV-ECMO).