Sharing the airway is a major concern for both anaesthetist and surgeon because the security of the airway may be jeopardized and the tracheal tube might impede the surgical field. This is seen typically in maxillofacial and ENTsurgeries. Nasal intubation is widely exercised by anaesthetists in maxillofacial surgery but difficulties arise with panfacial fractures when an unobstructed surgical f...

Objectives Airway management in patients with panfacial trauma is complicated. In addition to involving facial lesions, such trauma compromises the airway, and the use of intermaxillary fixation makes it difficult to secure ventilation by usual approaches (nasotracheal or endotracheal intubation). Submental airway derivation is an alternative to tracheostomy and nasotracheal intubation, allowin...

Hernandez first described the submental route for endotracheal intubation in 1986 as an alternative airway maneuver for maxillofacial procedures. Since that time, several case studies have been performed demonstrating the efficacy of the submental approach. This method was recently implemented in the case of a patient with altered nasal anatomy who sustained a mandibular fracture necessitating ...

BACKGROUND The incidence of a difficult laryngoscopy/intubation, which could lead to failed intubation is in the range of 1.5%-13%. Failed intubation may lead to hypoxia, brain damage or death. Preoperative evaluation of the airway can be accomplished by non-invasive bedside clinical tests during physical examination. We studied interobserver variability for non-invasive prediction of difficult...

Two patients, aged 18 and 28 years, with maxillofacial trauma due to motor vehicle accident, were operated upon by a team of plastic surgeons. In this report we aimed to present our experience with submental intubation procedure in these cases, in which orotracheal or nasotracheal intubation was impossible due to panfacial fracture.