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Publication
Synergic Difficulties in an Anticipated Physiologically and Anatomically Difficult Airway in a Trauma Patient: A Case Report
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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) defines a difficult airway as a clinical situation in which a physician who is trained in anesthesiology experiences difficulty or fails in either face mask ventilation, laryngoscopy, using a supraglottic airway, tracheal intubation, extubation, or front-of-neck airway. Classically, this has been defined in relation to anatomic factors, but the concept of a physiologically difficult airway has been growing in relevance, in which physiologic factors, such as hypoxemia and hypercapnia, act to reduce safe apnea times. The case reports on a trauma patient with an unstable thoracic vertebral fracture requiring correction via the posterior approach. Our patient had multiple anatomical difficult airway predictors, namely, a short neck, greatly limited neck mobility, and a Mallampati class IV airway, among others, and multiple physiological difficult airway predictors, such as a baseline hypoxemic respiratory failure and severe sleep apnea, in addition to the restrictions on mobility imposed by the fracture itself. We describe a successful perioxygenation strategy, using high-flow nasal oxygen (HFNO) during the preoxygenation, intubation, extubation, and post-anesthesia care phases, and with an awake fiberoptic intubation technique for securing the airway.
Description
Keywords
awake intubation difficult airway management high-flow nasal oxygen trauma anesthesia traumatic spinal fracture
Pedagogical Context
Citation
Martins Lima P, Adams M, Pinto SG, Mexedo C. Synergic Difficulties in an Anticipated Physiologically and Anatomically Difficult Airway in a Trauma Patient: A Case Report. Cureus. 2023;15(12):e50735. doi:10.7759/cureus.50735
Publisher
Cureus, Inc.