Editors: Eugenio Daniel Martinez-Hurtado, Mariscal Flores María Luisa

Series Title: Recent Advances in Anesthesiology

An Update on Airway Management

Volume 3

eBook: US $79 Special Offer (PDF + Printed Copy): US $145
Printed Copy: US $105
Library License: US $316
ISSN: 2589-9384 (Print)
ISSN: 2589-9392 (Online)
ISBN: 978-981-14-3237-8 (Print)
ISBN: 978-981-14-3238-5 (Online)
Year of Publication: 2020
DOI: 10.2174/97898114323851200301

Introduction

All anaesthesiologists know that the highest morbidity and mortality associated with anaesthesia are related to the airway management of our patients. This area represents one of the basic pillars of the specialty, and the Difficult Airway is the undisputed protagonist in all the congresses and the subject of numerous publications periodically.

Airway management has been changing over the years. Progressively, the evaluation and prediction of the possible difficulty in ventilation, oxygenation and intubation in the preoperative assessment have been standardized, while numerous devices have appeared that facilitate the way to approach the handling of the Difficult Airway.

It is no longer just about knowing how to use the fiberoptic bronchoscope, although this is still the main tool for managing the Difficult Airway. We are also obliged to know and use a wide range of new devices, as well as the indications and peculiarities of each of them.

Unfortunately, this great quantity of available devices means that many times we do not know them well, nor do we differentiate them. And, therefore, in many occasions, we do not use them in an adequate way. It does not consist in having and using all, but in mastering the use of those we have and acquiring experience with them so that they are effective when a Difficult Airway situation arises.

This book “Recent Advances in Anaesthesiology Vol. 3 – An Update on Airway Management” is an update of those topics that have had an important development in recent years in airway management. We have tried to approach the latest developments in this field with a simple, easy and direct reading, which helps in professionals' daily work.

We intend to reach a multitude of colleagues from all medical areas who have to manage their patients' airways: anaesthesiologists, intensivists, intra- and extra-hospital emergency physicians, pneumologists, ENT surgeons... who we believe could be of support for your work.

We also believe that it may be of interest to residents in training, as a method of updating and updating a subject that is basic and without which, almost all others are impossible to carry out.

Preface

Preface I

We have tried to create a work that approaches the latest developments in the field of airway management. To achieve this purpose, we have created alliances with the best experts, most qualified professionals of recognized prestige in this field, who have reviewed the new preoperative diagnostic methods, the new intubation devices, the new ways of handling extubation, the novelties in postoperative management in the resuscitation units, the management of the airway of those patients in remote areas outside the operating room or in extreme situations, and all that news that may be of interest to our colleagues. Always trying to achieve a simple, easy and direct reading that will be helpful in the daily work.

From my role as the unifier of the authors and their chapters, I want to thank each of my colleagues for their work. The present book "Recent Advances in Anesthesiology Vol. 3 – An Update on Airway Management" emerged as an opportunity to unite the knowledge of those expert colleagues in this area and transmit it to readers interested in the subject, and I think we have achieved it.

Finally, I want to thank my father, Dr. Vicente Martinez Navas, specialist in Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Preventive Medicine, Epidemiology, Microbiology, General Medicine, as well as Military Doctor. One of the best, most trained and outstanding Spanish doctors of his generation. He instilled in me a humanistic mentality of medicine, fundamental when planning and approaching this kind of work. I also want to thank my mother for being the non-medical counterpoint in my life. Without them, I would never have reached where I am, and this book would not have seen the light.

Eugenio Daniel Martinez-Hurtado
Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care,
University Hospital Infanta Leonor,
Madrid,
Spain


Preface II

The difficult airway management (DA) is a challenge for anesthesiologists and for all those professionals who are related to it.

Over the years, their knowledge and practice have evolved to a great extent, becoming in most of the Services a known, practiced and respected activity.

Since the times when they were only used as handling devices to solve the DA, the laryngoscope, face mask, stylet and guedel, until now, with a large number of Supraglottic Devices, Videolaryngoscopes and Fibroscopes, have changed the DA approach a lot.

However, we must not forget that the important thing is to assess the patient's airway and, with this knowledge, established an action strategy with alternative plans based on theoretical knowledge, practical ability with the different devices and in the follow-up of DA Algorithms of each hospital.

With this book "Recent Advances in Anesthesiology Vol. 3 – An Update on Airway Management" we intend to update the knowledge of all those novelties that have been emerging in this field.

We trust that it will be easy to read at the same time as deep and allow your reader an update on the management of the difficult airway.

María Luisa Mariscal Flores
Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care,
Hospital Universitario de Getafe,
Madrid,
Spain

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