Airway management in patients with cervical spine injury with a C-MAC Videolaryngoscope : A case report

Abstract

Patients with cervical spine injuries pose a significant challenge to an anesthesiologist. The airway management of these patients involves movements of the cervical spine that may worsen pre-existing injury resulting in poor post-operative neurological outcomes. We present a case report of a patient with cervical spine injury posted for spinal fusion under general anaesthesia. Intubation of the patient was done with C-MAC videolaryngoscope (VDL) with manual inline stabilisation (MILS) after induction with intravenous anaesthetic agents. The perioperative haemodynamic parameters were found to be stable with statistically insignificant deviation from the baseline values. All patients were examined post operatively with no post-operative adverse events including bronchospasm, dysphagia, aspiration or any neurological deficits. We concluded that VDL assisted intubation has several advantages in the care of these patients.