氣道處理之迷思

Pearls and Pitfalls in the Airway Management

Closed claims analysis reveals that adverse outcomes associated with respiratory events in clinical anesthesia constitute the single largest injury to patients. Three categories, namely, failure to ventilate (38%), difficult or failed intubation (17%) and failure to recognize esophageal intubation (18%), accounted for 75% of the adverse events. Ominous complications such as death or brain damage related to airway management occurred in 85% of these cases. It has been widely accepted that if one could give enough forethought and planning to the management of the airway of the patient, a vast majority of the airway problems might be avoided.