In 50 morbidly obese patients, we quantified the soft tissue of the neck from the skin to the anterior aspect of the trachea at the vocal cords using ultrasound. Thyromental distance, mouth opening, limited neck mobility, modified Mallampati score, abnormal upper teeth, neck circumference and sleep apnoea were assessed as predictors of difficult laryngoscopy. Of the nine (18%) cases of difficul...

Background: Difficulty in management of the airway occurs most frequently in patients who have Mallampati grade III and IV, and other unfavourable airway findings like short neck, restriction in range of motion of the temporomandibular joints and inadequate neck flexion and extension. Because of unavailability of fibreoptic bronchoscopes or inexperience in their use, laryngeal mask airway (LMA)...

Cornelia de Lange syndrome (CdLS) is a rare congenital accompanied by significant craniofacial, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and musculoskeletal anomalies with dysmorphic facial appearance. As many systems are affected in these patients, anesthesia management can become complex. An 8-year-old, 17 kg, 31-month-old girl diagnosed CdLS due to developmental delay applied for cranial whole spin...

Airway difficulties are a major concern for anesthesiologists. Even though fiberoptic intubation is the generally accepted method for management of difficult airways, it is not without disadvantages-requires patient cooperation, and cannot be performed on soiled airway or upper airways with pre-existing narrowing pathology. Additionally, fiberoptic bronchoscopy is not available at every medical...

BACKGROUND The hyomental distance ratio is defined as the ratio of the hyomental distances in neutral position and at head extension. The aim of the study was to establish the diagnostic utility as predictor of difficult intubation. METHODS In a cross-sectional study, the assessment of the airway was performed in 70 patients (35 male and 35 female, 15-75 years old) undergoing general anesthes...

We studied 60 ASA I patients with Mallampati grade 1 airways to compare emergency intubating conditions with either alfentanil 20 micrograms kg-1, propofol 2.5 mg kg-1 and vecuronium 0.1 mg kg-1, or with thiopentone 5 mg kg-1 and suxamethonium 1 mg kg-1. Ease of laryngoscopy, vocal cord status and cough response were graded. The trachea of all patients was intubated; 83% of patients in the alfe...

A 12 yr-old, 30 kg female child was admitted with history of bilateral adrenalectomy for Cushing’s syndrome 3 years back, following which she developed severe darkening of skin all over body and gradually progressing headache. Her endocrine profile revealed ACTH levels of 220 pg/mL (Normal = 6-76 pg/mL) with cortisol of 1.2 μg/dL (normal = 5-25 μg/dL) for which prednisolone 5 mg and fludrocorti...

The aims of the study were to identify factors that may result in difficulties in intubation, and to compare the results obtained when an experienced and when a less experienced anaesthesiologist was involved. The 96 patients included in the study were evaluated for difficult intubation according to the following scales: Mallampati, upper lip bite test (ULBT) and Patil. The mobility of the cerv...