The myth of the difficult airway: airway management revisited

Don't quote me on this, but…

“…I discovered musings from Voltaire [1] and Tolstoy [2], William Osler [3], Atul Gawande [4], and even Michael Jordan [5], The Beatles [6] and Spiderman's uncle [1]! Henry Ford put in a particularly strong showing, supplying three quotations to three editorials over the time period [7][8][9].…”

‘From darkness into light’: time to make awake intubation with videolaryngoscopy the primary technique for an anticipated difficult airway?

“…Practically, however, a 'difficult airway' is a common descriptor signifying, but not distinguishing between, a range of conditions. (Some have even argued that a 'difficult airway' does not exist, rather only a range of 'complexity factors' [41]). As such, no single airway device will satisfy all clinical situations or the preferences of all operators and patients; furthermore, one would expect from 'expert' anaesthetists that they would have a 'repertoire' of techniques at their disposal, and draw on the appropriate one(s) as needed [42,43].…”

Coupling and complexity in airway management

“…Patel and Nouraei report that the THRIVE (Transnasal Humidified Rapid-Insufflation Ventilatory Exchange) technique 'has the potential to transform the practice of anaesthesia' by 'extending the safe apnoeic window' following induction of general anaesthesia and neuromuscular blockade [1]. Their method uses the reported but under-used technique of aventilatory mass flow (AVMF), also known as apnoeic mass movement oxygenation (AMMO) [2], but may have important limitations.…”

“…I would like to congratulate Huitink and Bouwman for their excellent and comprehensive editorial on airway management [1], but suggest that there are three further factors that need to be added to the 'airway' component of their PHASE checklist describing the requirements for a classification of a 'basic' airway, namely: (i) normal mandible size (i.e. no hypognathia or retrognathia); (ii) neck circumference < 43 cm; and (iii) normal tongue size (i.e.…”