Difficult airway management - 2020 version

61-year old patient procedes to undergo an elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Basic pre-operative assesment has been made; there are no serious risk factors present (PMH: varicose veins in lower extremities, hypertension, pharmacologically managed, ASA II). She comes to your office for an anaesthetist’s assessment. What are the main criteria for the assessment of difficult airway?

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Difficult airway assesment is not neccesary in this case, since the patient’s airway will be managed by a supraglottic airway device (SAD).

Patient’s history of previous difficult intubation is the only reliable factor for difficult airway assessment.

You perform a complete LEMON score assessment.

Assesment of congenital anomalies and facial or neck trauma are the only criterias for difficult airway.

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PMH - patient's medical history
ASA - American Society of Anesthesiologists - physical status classification system that was developed for simple categorization of patients based on their risk of complications during the surgery
SAD - supraglotticair device