Difficult Intubation at Bay! C-Mac Fails to Pay!! Critical Positioning Paves the Way!!!, Difficult Intubation in a Case of Obstructive Hydrocephalus Posted for V.P. Shunt

Abstract

Children with gross hydrocephalus present various challenges to the anaesthesiologists. The problems encountered are not only limited to associated congenital abnormalities and physiological derangements due to raised intra cranial tension, even intubation in such cases can pose great difculty owing to the increased head circumference that makes the alignment of oro-pharyngo- [1,3] laryngeal axis under direct laryngoscopy almost impossible . Difcult airway cart, C- MAC, paediatric breoptic bronchioscope and all possible difcult airway armamentarium must be checked to be in place before induction of anaesthesia in such cases to potentially avoid any [2] airway disaster . Here is a case report of a child with gross hydrocephalus posted for emergency VP shunt placement that turned out to be an extremely challenging airway.