Abstract
BackgroundSurgical cricothyroidotomy is considered to be the last resort for management of the difficult airway. A major point for a successful surgical cricothyroidotomy is to identify the location of the cricothyroid membrane.Case presentationWe encountered a patient with progressive respiratory distress who was anticipated to have a difficult airway due to a large neck abscess. We prepared for both awake intubation and surgical cricothyroidotomy. The cricothyroid membrane could not be identified by palpation, but was readily identified using ultrasound.ConclusionUltrasound-guided identification of the cricothyroid membrane may be useful in a patient with a difficult airway due to neck swelling.
Highlights
Surgical cricothyroidotomy is considered to be the last resort for management of the difficult airway
We encountered a patient with progressive respiratory distress who was considered to be at high risk of a difficult airway due to a large neck abscess
Ultrasound-guided identification of the cricothyroid membrane may be important for smooth surgical cricothyroidotomy if awake intubation fails
Summary
Surgical cricothyroidotomy is considered to be the last resort for management of the difficult airway. We chose awake intubation and tried simultaneously to identify the cricothyroid membrane. Ultrasound-guided identification of the cricothyroid membrane may be important for smooth surgical cricothyroidotomy if awake intubation fails. * Correspondence: kohji.fentanyl@gmail.com 1Department of Anesthesiology, Kyorin University School of Medicine, Mailing address: 6-20-2 Shinkawa, Mitaka-shi, Tokyo 181-8611, Japan Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
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