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YALE J. BERRY, MD
Boston, Mass

Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 1990;116(7):864.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—I am writing this letter concerning the article by Breznick and Saporito¹ on "Iatrogenic Retropharyngeal Emphysema With Impending Airway Obstruction." There is a very simple method of eliminating air in tissue.

Of course, air is 80% nitrogen. Nitrogen is inert. Oxygen is picked up by the bloodstream very rapidly, and the nitrogen remains a problem. Nature abhors spaces and will then begin to fill those spaces with tissue fluids that can become infected quite rapidly. Although nitrogen is inert, it can be eliminated fairly rapidly. This treatment was not mentioned under the "Management Aspects" section of the article.

Because nitrogen is inert, the only way to eliminate nitrogen is to create as large a partial pressure difference between the nitrogen in the tissue and the nitrogen in the blood. Then, according to the general gas laws, the nitrogen gas will flow to the area of lower . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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