Neonatal Airway Management

Abstract

Expertise in neonatal airway management requires an understanding of early human anatomical development as well as a set of clinical skills to provide safe mask ventilation and tracheal intubation in this extremely small-sized population of patients. Since neonatal airway experiences are not a daily occurrence in most anesthesiology training programs, this skill set is acquired only after repeated patient encounters over a prolonged period of time that may span years or decades. In this chapter, we review the foundations upon which management of the neonatal airway is based. The reader should note that these foundations are largely based on our collective experience, which is complemented by case reports and case series that reflect the experience of others as there is a dearth of prospective studies on airway management in the neonate. The chapter is divided into three sections: (1) anatomy and physiology of the neonatal upper airway, (2) techniques for standard neonatal airway management, and (3) techniques for managing the anatomically abnormal neonatal airway.