Why is Endotracheal Intubation Needed During Surgery?

1. Why is endotracheal intubation needed during surgery?

As we all know, there are large-scale and small-scale operations. Tracheal intubation is used to rescue patients when they have difficulty breathing. Because some operations take into account the long time, the trauma, the bleeding, and the important organs, general anesthesia will be chosen. All general anesthetics have different degrees of respiratory depression. After application, the patient's expiratory volume and respiratory rate decrease, causing hypoventilation. In order to prevent the patient from hypoxia, through the tracheal intubation can well control breathing or assist breathing.

2. The application of endotracheal intubation

Some operations, such as abdominal surgery, cannot be performed if the patient’s muscles are not loose. Only the use of muscle relaxants during anesthesia can achieve the surgical conditions, and once the muscle relaxants are injected, the patient cannot maintain breathing. At this time, it is necessary to rely on ventilator support, and endotracheal intubation is the prerequisite.

A standard endotracheal tube can isolate the respiratory tract from the digestive tract, and prevent other foreign bodies from entering the respiratory tract, reducing the risk of aspiration. And it can suck out the secretions in the trachea in time to keep the airway unobstructed.

Artificial or mechanical ventilation during general anesthesia can prevent patients from hypoxia and carbon dioxide retention. This kind of tracheal intubation can only be performed when the anesthesia reaches a certain depth, and the patient is unconscious, so the intubation operation will not cause pain to the patient.

Some operations are performed under local anesthesia, nerve block, or intraspinal anesthesia. The patient remains awake and his protective reflex is not affected, so tracheal intubation is not required. However, once an accident occurs during the operation, tracheal intubation is required.