Difficult airway management in trauma: a review of current guidelines.

Abstract

The American Society of Anesthesiologists and the British Difficult Airway Society have generated and revised guidelines over the past 30 years based on analyses of the causes of airway catastrophes. Guideline components include airway management algorithms, equipment standardization, and routine training. Algorithms utilize intubation, supraglottic airway insertion, fiberoptic intubation, awake intubation, and front of neck surgical access. This issue summarizes difficult airway management guidelines and discusses their application to trauma patients, including patients with physiologically difficult airways and patients with maxillofacial and laryngotracheal trauma.