Foreword

This book entitled “Recent Advances in Anesthesiology Vol. 3 – An Update on Airway Management” is an excellent tool for learning about Airway management, which remains one of the pillars of the anaesthesiology and critical care in a variety of "scheduled, urgent or emergent situations. The scope of action can be in hospital but also extrahospital, with all the connotations of difficulty that the latter usually possess.

Unquestionably, the advances in devices to improve our ability to control the airway have been momentous in recent decades, particularly through the incorporation of different devices with built-in optics. These include videolaryngoscopes, with or without a channel, that have irrefutably revolutionized our usual clinical practice, specifically useful for the unforeseen difficult airway (DA), but also for some cases of anticipated DA.

This means that in the last Difficult Airway Society (DAS) guidelines, this device is already within Plan A of the algorithm. The inclusion of fiberscope in our daily clinical practice has also been very helpful as instruments that all specialists who need to manage the airway should know and be trained in its proper use. Furthermore, we must not forget the fundamental importance of the supraglottic devices that are described in detail in this work, or the intubation guidelines, stylets, tube interchanges and guide for safe extubation by stages, insomuch as extubation is one of the most dangerous moments where we must anticipate all possible secure clinical alternatives.

Of course, the optimal management of DA requires a prior study of the patient to guide the most appropriate technique in each patient, which has been fundamental to improve the quality and safety of these procedures. However, the predictors are not always reliable, so more studies should be conducted to improve the prediction of DA.

Training in airway management is perhaps the most important aspect from my modest point of view, so this work can contribute a lot to update this matter and specify how to act with the new guidelines endorsed by experts such as the participating authors in the same. Undoubtedly, the learning of airway management through clinical simulation is essential for any professional who requires training in this type of technique.

In summary, I sincerely believe that this work will contribute to a better knowledge of safe clinical practice and quality control of the airway in all types of clinical situations.