Tracheobronchial reconstruction by inverted Barclay’s method for tracheobronchial injury in an 8-year-old girl: a case report

BACKGROUND: Tracheobronchial injury in children is rare but can be highly fatal in severe cases. Therefore, prompt diagnosis and treatment are required. The appropriate treatment method depends on the extent and severity of the injury. CASE PRESENTATION: An 8-year-old girl fell from the fifth floor and was transported to a local hospital. She had a tracheobronchial injury, went into cardiopulmonary arrest during transportation to our hospital. She was revived with cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) was commenced. Subsequently, we performed tracheobronchial reconstruction by inverted Barclay’s method for tracheobronchial injury. She was switched from VA-ECMO to venovenous (VV)-ECMO 4 days postoperatively, and VV-ECMO was eventually discontinued 27 days after the surgery. The patient was awake and weaned off the ventilator on postoperative day 58. She was discharged 97 days after the surgery. CONCLUSIONS: Tracheobronchial reconstruction by inverted Barclay’s method is the preferred surgical technique when other reconstruction techniques are expected to cause excessive tension on the anastomosis of the right main bronchus.