Airway Management in Head and Neck Pathology

Abstract

Studies have demonstrated that poor assessment and planning contribute to airway complications and that current airway assessment strategies have a poor diagnostic accuracy in predicting difficult intubation in the general population. There is a higher risk for difficulties during airway management in patients with pathologies arising from the head and neck region and are more likely to need emergency surgical access. Therefore, thorough assessment and adequate knowledge about the various head and neck pathologies is mandatory. In this chapter, we will briefly go through the preoperative assessment and history & clinical assessment, the investigations. Also we will discuss the airway management at various pathologies involving the head and neck region whether benign/malignant pathologies, OSA (obstructive sleep apnea) and post head & neck operative airway management.