A difficult airway is defined as the clinical situation in which a
conventionally trained anaesthesiologist experiences difficulty with facemask
ventilation of the upper airway, difficulty with tracheal intubation, or both.
The greatest challenge is “cannot intubate and cannot oxygenate (CICO)” scenarios.
This is a true emergency situation because if spontaneous effective breathing does not
recover and the surgical airway cannot be established, CICO often ends in a
catastrophe.
Keywords: Bougie, Brain damage, Cricothyroidotomy, Death, Emergency,
Hypoxia, Intubation, Oxygenation, Scalpel, Supraglottic, Ventilation,
Videolaryngoscope.
