Airway management

Airway management
Intervention
Photograph of an anesthesiologist using the Glidescope video laryngoscope to intubate the trachea of a morbidly obese elderly person with challenging airway anatomy
MeSH	D058109
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Airway management includes a set of maneuvers and medical procedures performed to both prevent airway airway obstruction and relieve it. This ensures an open pathway for gas exchange between a patient's lungs and the atmosphere. This is accomplished by either clearing a previously obstructed airway; or by preventing airway obstruction in cases such as anaphylaxis, the obtunded patient, or medical sedation. Airway obstruction can be caused by the tongue, foreign objects, the tissues of the airway itself, and bodily fluids such as blood and gastric contents (aspiration).

Airway management is commonly divided into two categories: basic and advanced.

Basic techniques are generally non-invasive and do not require specialized medical equipment or advanced training. These include head and neck maneuvers to optimize ventilation, abdominal thrusts, and back blows.

Advanced techniques require specialized medical training and equipment, and are further categorized anatomically into supraglottic devices (such as oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal airways), infraglottic techniques (such as tracheal intubation), and surgical methods (such as cricothyrotomy, and tracheotomy).

Airway management is a primary consideration in the fields of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, anaesthesia, emergency medicine, intensive care medicine, and first aid.

Airway represents the "A" In the ABC treatment mnemonic.