Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients are most challenging. These patient present the most serious array of intubation and difficult airway imaginable, secondary to decrease or no cervical spine mobility, fixed flexion deformity of thoracolumbar spine and possible temporomandibular joint disease. Sound clinical judgment is critical for timing and selecting the method for airway intervention. The retrograde intubation technique is an important option when fiberoptic bronchoscope is not available, and other method is not applicable for gaining airway access for surgery in prone position. We report a case of AS with fixed flexion deformity of thoracic and thoracolumbar spine, fusion of posterior elements of cervical spine posted for lumbar spinal osteotomy with anticipated difficult intubation. An awake retrograde oral intubation with light sedation and local block is performed.
Thyroid diseases have an anesthetic implication that includes difficult airway management, uncontrolled hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism and postthyroidectomy complications. Securing airway: Intubation and extubation both require skillful management and timely decision to reduce morbidity and mortality in the case of large goiter with retrosternal extension that leads to tracheal compression and deviation. We present the anesthetic management in a patient with a large goiter with retrosternal extension leading to tracheal compression and deviation. We managed the case with an awake fiberoptic intubation and guided extubation.
Brugada syndrome is a myocardial transmembrane conduction of sodium abnormality and a common cause of sudden cardiac death. It is characterized by a distinctive electrocardiograph pattern with right bundle branch block and ST segment elevation in precordial leads V1–V3. Many factors during general anesthetic management could precipitate malignant dysrhythmia. We report the anesthetic management of a patient with Brugada syndrome for emergency appendectomy uneventfully.
Purpose Short Neck is a term used by anesthesiologists to describe one of the risk factors for difficult airway management. However, the term Short Neck is very subjective and has not been standardized. We attempt to quantify Short Neck.Methods A pilot prospective single blinded study was conducted at Hamad General Hospital, Doha, Qatar between March 2018 and October 2018. 97 adult patients scheduled for elective surgery under general anesthesia were recruited. Measurements of airway assessment, including neck length, were documented prior to anesthesia. The operators (anesthesiologists) were blinded. Intubation Difficulty Scale was used. All data were documented and analysed afterwards. Patients were of three groups according to Intubation Difficulty Scale (IDS): Group A: IDS 0, Group B: IDS >0 - ≤5 and Group C: IDS >5.Results Five patients (5.2%) with intubation difficulty score >5 have a mean neck length 7.6 cm. Short Neck was found to have a significant p value 0.022 within the three groups.Conclusions Patient's features relevant to airway assessment are rather difficult to quantify. This is the first reported attempt to obtain an objective value for Short Neck in routine airway assessment.
looking at unilateral blocks. The anaesthetists were notified beforehand to gainconsent. Results Thirty questionnaires were collected over one month. All patients had working intravenous access. Monitoring was done in all patients except one sedated patient, when ETCO2 was not used. SBYB was performed in all cases, but not documented in 20%. A SBYB box was used to store prepared drugs in all but one case.
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