TY - CHAP M1 - Book, Section TI - Airway Management/The Difficult Airway A1 - Sahasranaman, Venketraman A1 - Safi, Tarang A1 - Chung, Mabel A1 - Berger, Jay A2 - Oropello, John M. A2 - Pastores, Stephen M. A2 - Kvetan, Vladimir PY - 1 T2 - Critical Care AB - KEY POINTSThe anatomy of the airway starts at either the nasopharynx or oropharynx, and continues inferiorly past the larynx into the trachea.In an emergency when the patient cannot be intubated or ventilated, the airway can be surgically entered via the cricothyroid membrane.Difficult ventilation is a situation in which adequate ventilation cannot be achieved.Identifying patients with potentially difficult airways is essential due to the increased incidence of complications associated with difficult intubations.Preoxygenation increases the safety buffer time available during the peri-intubation period.In order to insure amnesia, analgesia, and muscle relaxation during intubation, a balanced approach utilizing multiple medications are required.Confirmation of correct placement of the endotracheal tube can be accomplished directly by visualizing the tube passing through the vocal cords or indirectly by auscultating bilateral breath sounds, observing rise and fall of the chest wall, and by capnography.The risk of aspiration in patients with suspected or known full stomachs can be decreased by utilizing a rapid sequence intubation technique. SN - PB - McGraw-Hill Education CY - New York, NY Y2 - 2024/03/29 UR - accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1136413681 ER -