Monitoring during difficult airway management

Abstract

Monitoring is crucial to assure safety during difficult airway management. Several reports have indicated that the most of the adverse outcomes associated with difficult airway management could have been avoided with the use of necessary monitors, such as a pulse oximeter and a capnometer. Nevertheless, airway complications continue to be major problems during anesthesia, in particular, in patients with difficult airways. In this brief review, I stress the role of monitoring in detecting inadvertent esophageal intubation, during sedation for awake tracheal intubation, during general anesthesia, and during emergence from anesthesia, in patients with difficult airways.