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Difficult and failed intubation in 3430 obstetric general anaesthetics*
Author(s) -
Djabatey E. A.,
Barclay P. M.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
anaesthesia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.839
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1365-2044
pISSN - 0003-2409
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2044.2009.06060.x
Subject(s) - medicine , intubation , incidence (geometry) , anesthesia , tracheal intubation , rapid sequence induction , audit , airway management , general anaesthesia , retrospective cohort study , airway , general hospital , endotracheal intubation , emergency medicine , surgery , physics , management , optics , economics
Summary A retrospective audit was performed of all obstetric general anaesthetics in our hospital over an 8 year period to determine the incidence of difficult and failed intubation. Data was collected from a number of sources to ensure accuracy. A total of 3430 rapid sequence anaesthetics were given. None of the patients had a failed or oesophageal intubation (95% CI, 0–1:1143). There were 23 difficult intubations (95% CI, 1:238–1:100). This was anticipated in nine cases, requiring awake fibreoptic intubation in three cases. Consultants or specialist registrars were involved in the management of all cases. We attribute the low incidence of airway complications to the above average rate of general anaesthesia in our hospital, senior cover and specialised anaesthetic operating department assistants.