2021 Update on airway management from the Anaesthesia Continuing Education Airway Management Special Interest Group

Abstract

Airway Management is the key for anaesthetists dealing with patients undergoing diagnostic procedures and surgical interventions. The present coronavirus pandemic underpins even more how important safe airway management is. It also highlights the need to apply stringent precautions to avoid infection and ongoing transmission to patients, anaesthetists and other healthcare workers (HCWs). In light of this extraordinary global situation the aim of this article is to update the reader on the varied aspects of the ever-changing tasks anaesthetists are involved in and highlight the equipment, devices and techniques that have evolved in response to changing technology and unique patient and surgical requirements.

Assessing the Efficacy of Difficult Airway Alerts in Electronic Medical Records: A Quality Improvement Study

“…However, we have identi ed barriers that prevent di cult airway alerts from being clinically useful in an airway emergency in our institution, as well as solutions that may be applicable to other institutions. These fall into four areas: Firstly, criteria for di cult airway alert creation were not clear and speci c. Advice for determining for whom a di cult airway communication should be created has varied (10), ranging from clinician discretion (12) to a speci c list of indications or criteria (3,7,10,11). While most active alerts were found to be appropriate, the lack of speci c criteria for alert creation raises the possibility that some patients with actual airway di culty may not have received a di cult airway alert.…”

“…Finally, there is currently no effective system for distributing di cult airway communication between individual institutions in Victoria. While national and state-wide di cult airway alert databases have been established elsewhere (3,6,10), further work is needed to develop an effective solution across Australia as part of the National Digital Health Strategy and broader efforts to streamline digital health information (10,11). We expect that many health institutions around the world face a similar challenge.…”

“…More recently, a Di cult Airway Alert form has been developed by Queensland Health, which has clear criteria for alert creation, and facilitates structured information collection. This form has been endorsed by the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) (7,10,11).…”

Airway Management: A Case of Desmoplastic Ameloblastoma of Right Mandibular Body

“…Desmoplastic ameloblastoma is distinct from other types of ameloblastoma in that it occurs more frequently in the anterior part of the jaw and has a mixed radiolucent radio-opaque look that is typically more reminiscent of a fibro-osseous lesion. The presence of large tumours in the oral and pharyngeal region is a predictor of a difficult airway [9,[10][11][12][13][14][15].…”