Anaesthetic Glossary

Difficult Airway

Difficult airway illustration

ET tube secured with "tracheostomy" tape

A condition due to a patient's anatomy or disease process where the patient may be difficult to intubate using standard technique. Patients with a difficult airway may be referred to our Anaesthesia Preoperative Advanced Testing Clinic for evaluation.

Many of these problems can be overcome either by performing an "awake" intubation under local anaesthesia or by using specialised equipment such as the videolaryngoscope.

Two different types of Video-laryngoscopes

Storz videolaryngoscope
Videolaryngoscope
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