• Ehab Farag.
• Associate Professor of Anesthesiology Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine Case Western University and Director of Clinical Research Department of General Anesthesia and Outcomes Research, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA. Electronic address: farage@ccf.org.
• Best Pract Res Clin Anaesthesiol. 2016 Mar 1; 30 (1): 13-25.

AbstractCervical spine surgery is one of the most commonly performed spine surgeries in the United States, and 90% of the cases are related to degenerative cervical spine disease (the rest to cervical spine trauma and/or instability). The airway management for cervical spine surgery represents a crucial step in the anesthetic management to avoid injury to the cervical cord. The crux for upper airway management for cervical spine surgery is maintaining the neck in a neutral position with minimal neck movement during endotracheal intubation. Therefore, the conventional direct laryngoscopy (DL) can be unsuitable for securing the upper airway in cervical spine surgery, especially in cases of cervical spine instability and myelopathy. This review discusses the most recent evidence-based facts of the main advantages and limitations of different techniques available for upper airway management for cervical spine surgery. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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