Challenges of Airway Management

In this issue of Anesthesia Progress, Dudaryk et al present an interesting case, “Facial Artery Pseudoaneurysm: Challenges in Airway Management.” The difficult airway is not uncommonly encountered when anesthetizing patients for dental, oral, or maxillofacial surgery. The authors are to be commended for having successfully managed this difficult patient, particularly by having been immediately prepared for an emergent surgical airway in case the intubation technique failed. However, when confronted with a similar difficult airway, I would not have selected the anesthetic technique that was chosen for this case. Below, I offer what I believe is a much better choice if done precisely as written or guided by the same principles with minor variation