Ultrasound Guided Airway Block In Patients With Difficult Intubation

Abstract

Providing anesthetic care to the patient with a difficult airway keenly interests anesthesiologists and is a situation that often provokes much anxiety and trepidation. However, dealing effectively and safely with these patients is a skill that all anesthesiologists should be familiar with and are expected to perform with competency. While there are many methods that may be used to provide anesthesia to the airway, descriptions of these methods tend to be widely scattered throughout various textbooks and journals, and the choice of which method to use is often based on limited information, such as institutional tradition and personal experience. Therefore, we will cover the neuroanatomy of the upper airway and then describe several techniques that can be used to provide airway anesthesia. As airway assessment, investigation and management becomes increasingly refined, the search for a single, reliable predictor of the difficult airway continues. A number of bedside tests are available to the anesthetist