CASE STUDY: Cinnamon Aspiration in a Toddler Causing Severe ARDS
Requiring Surfactant and Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation
Abstract
As many as 6% of reported cinnamon poisonings cause significant
clinical effects, however descriptions of pulmonary toxicity have not
yet been reported. Here, we present a pediatric patient’s hospital
course following powdered cinnamon aspiration. The early presentation
with hypercapnia and lower airways obstructions evolved to hypoxemic
respiratory failure and severe pediatric acute respiratory distress
syndrome requiring a 7-day course of veno-venous extracorporeal membrane
oxygenation, 16 ventilator-days, and 3 diagnostic and therapeutic
bronchoscopies with 2 applications of surfactant therapy. The sum of
these modalities contributed to this patient’s survival and subsequent
return to respiratory baseline 6 months post-hospitalization.