The present and future of fiberoptic intubation

Difficult airway management is critical during induction of anesthesia, and airway-related complications are the most frequent causes of morbidity, mortality and litigation against anesthesiologists . Fiberoptic intubation (FOI) is the gold standard for endotracheal intubation in difficult or compromised airway situations when preservation of spontaneous breathing is detrimental 4, . However, FOI is still not a routine technique due to lack of education and practice . In this paper we presented basic principles of fiberoptic intubation, together with the recent developments in this field.