Upper airway anatomy

Description

Collapse of the upper airway is common during anaesthesia, and airway maintenance is a fundamental anaesthetic skill. Anaesthetists recognise an airway as `dif®cult' if it is dif®cult to maintain airway patency without tracheal intubation or intubation itself is problematic. Such problems often coexist because the tendency of the upper airway to collapse during anaesthesia is related to anatomical factors, which also make instrumentation dif®cult.