Unexpected difficult intubation

Unexpected Difficult Intubation in a Patient with Prominent Mandibular Tori

Bony exostoses such as mandibular tori are fairly common. They are asymptomatic, benign cortical bony protuberances occurring along the lingular aspect of the mandible. Large tori may interfere with direct laryngoscopy resulting in difficult intubation. This is a case report about a 66 year old, Caucasian male with a Mallampati class I airway who was un-intubatable initially, due to the presenc...

Encountering unexpected difficult airway: relationship with the intubation difficulty scale

BACKGROUND An unexpected difficult intubation can be very challenging and if it is not managed properly, it may expose the encountered patient to significant risks. The intubation difficulty scale (IDS) has been used as a validated method to evaluate a global degree of intubation difficulty. The aims of this study were to evaluate the prevalence and characteristics of unexpected difficult intub...

Difficult intubation provokes bacteremia.

PURPOSE To evaluate the prevalence of bacteremia after mask ventilation, laryngoscopy, and endotracheal intubation before induction of general anesthesia and to discover any correlation between traumatic manipulations and bacteremia. The specific bacteria responsible, knowledge of which may guide the prophylactic use of antibiotics, also were investigated. METHODS Fifty patients were enrolled...

Predicting difficult intubation.

The amount of larynx seen at intubation was assessed in 633 adult patients undergoing routine surgery. Various measurements of the head and neck were made in an attempt to discover which features were associated with difficulty with laryngoscopy (defined as the inability to see even the arytenoids). In addition 38 patients, reported by colleagues because they had been "difficult to intubate", w...

Successful blind digital intubation with a bougie introducer in a patient with an unexpected difficult airway.