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BMC emergency medicine · Feb 2018
Case ReportsUltrasound-guided identification of the cricothyroid membrane in a patient with a difficult airway: a case report.
- Hiromu Okano, Kohji Uzawa, Kunitaro Watanabe, Akira Motoyasu, Joho Tokumine, Alan Kawarai Lefor, and Tomoko Yorozu.
- Department of Anesthesiology, Kyorin University School of Medicine, Mailing address: 6-20-2 Shinkawa, Mitaka-shi, Tokyo, 181-8611, Japan.
- BMC Emerg Med. 2018 Feb 8; 18 (1): 5.
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.
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