• Shiroh Isono.
• Department of Anesthesiology (B1), Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba 260-8670.
• Masui. 2006 Nov 1; 55 (11): 1348-59.

AbstractMajority of severe anesthetic complications result from airway difficulties. Among the airway difficulties, difficult mask ventilation is a key critical condition in the currently proposed difficult airway algorithms, and is probably the most life-threatening event. Presence of severe obstructive sleep apnea may indicate potential difficulty in mask ventilation during anesthesia induction. Lateral neck radiographs for patients with suspected airway difficulties may provide useful information for identification of potential patients with difficult mask ventilation. Among the parameters measured by the radiographs, I recommend anesthesiologists to measure distance between the hyoid bone and mandibular plane, which possibly reflects anatomical balance of the upper airway maintenance.

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