Management of difficult airway is one of the most challenging tasks for anesthesiologists, and failure of securing it could have fatal consequences. We must be prepared to deal with problems in management of difficult airway at any time. Difficult intubation can either be anticipated or unanticipated. An anesthesiologist must be aware of the possibility of both situations to arise and preparati...

In management of patients with an emergency, airway management and ventilatory care are the highest priorities (1, 2). Everybody who is confronted with a patient in distress has to start with the ABC’s: Airway, Breathing, and Circulation. Establishment of an airway is the first step in the ABC’s. If the airway is blocked, death will occur within a few minutes. When an airway is only partially b...

Received for publication: Dec 8, 2005. Revised: Apr. 11, 2006. rEZUMat Director, Obstetric Anesthesia, Department of Anesthesiology, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, USA

conclusions the case illustrates that transnasal videolaryngoscopy conducted in the preoperative anesthesia clinic is capable of providing key information to guide airway management in patients with significant upper airway pathology. case presentation a 68-year-old man presented to the preoperative anesthesia clinic for work-up before anticipated removal of infected total knee arthroplasty har...

treacher collin’s syndrome (tcs) is a rare inherited condition characterized by bilateral and symmetric abnormalities of structures within the first and second bronchial arches. patients with tcs present a serious problem to anesthetists maintaining their airway as upper airway obstruction and difficult tracheal intubation due to severe facial deformity. because of retrognathia, airway manageme...