Management of the Difficult Airway: A Handbook for Surgeons

Airway management is a crucial skill to master and the first priority in the assessment of a critically ill or injured patient. Failure to secure an adequate airway can quickly lead to death or disability. Though primarily the remit of the anaesthesiologist, airway management also presents challenges to the surgeon, for example in obese patients or during surgery for thyroid cancer, particularly where reconstruction of the airway is involved.

Management of the Difficult Airway: A Handbook for Surgeons is the first book designed to help surgeons with the issues they face maintaining a clear airway and preventing obstruction. It provides practical guidance not just on emergency situations, but also on complex, planned interventions where it is the surgeon who oversees the management of the airway, for example during surgery for congenital airway anomalies. Early chapters cover anatomy, imaging, indications and specific techniques; later ones cover airway situations in specific groups, for example patients requiring surgical reconstruction of the airway resulting from cancer.

Management of the Difficult Airway provides a comprehensive, timely review of the core knowledge and clinical skills necessary for successful airway management in the surgical environment.

Key Points

• Provides a ‘go-to’ skills manual for surgeons focussing on difficult airway management in surgical patients
• Covers surgical airway management issues in adult and paediatric patients
• Multidisciplinary author team combines the expertise of ENT and other surgeons, radiologists and anaesthesiologists

Jerome W Thompson
Professor & Chair, Dept of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery

Francisco O M Vieira
Assistant Prof of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery

Both at University of Tennessee Centre for Health Sciences, Memphis, USA

Michael J Rutter
Paediatric Otolaryngologist, Professor of Paediatrics & OHNS, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Centre, Cincinnati, USA