Bending the rules: a novel approach to placement and retrospective experience with the 5 French Arndt endobronchial blocker in children <2 years

Summary Background One‐lung ventilation (OLV) is frequently employed to improve surgical exposure during video‐assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) and thoracotomy in adults and children. Because of their small size, children under the age of 2 years are not candidates for some of the methods typically used for OLV in adults and older children, such as a double‐lumen endotracheal (DLT) tube or intraluminal use of a bronchial blocker. Due to this, the clinician is left with few options. One of the most robust approaches to OLV in infants and small children has been the extraluminal placement of a 5 French (5F) Arndt endobronchial blocker (AEB). Aim The aim of this retrospective study was to examine and describe our experience with placement and management of an extraluminal 5F AEB for thoracic surgery in children