• Stephen Alerhand.
• Department of Emergency Medicine, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, 150 Bergen Street; Newark, NJ 07103, USA. Electronic address: Stephen.Alerhand@rutgers.edu.
• Am J Emerg Med. 2018 Nov 1; 36 (11): 2078-2084.

BackgroundPrior to the anticipated difficult airway, the emergency physician commonly palpates the neck to identify the presumed location of the cricothyroid membrane (CTM). In the event of a "cannot-intubate, cannot‑oxygenate" airway, precise CTM localization is vital to the success of a cricothyrotomy and hence, the patient's survival.ObjectiveThis narrative review will summarize the prospective studies evaluating CTM identification. It will demonstrate the inaccuracy of the classically used landmark palpation technique. It will then describe the use of ultrasound (US) as a superior tool for CTM identification, illustrate the technique itself, and propose its implementation in the pre-intubation checklist for the anticipated difficult airway.DiscussionEvidence demonstrates that physicians are not sufficiently accurate in palpating the CTM in both cadavers and volunteers in a stable non-emergent setting. In preparing for a real-time intubation, this fine motor task would be more difficult to achieve. Moreover, this particular patient group may often exhibit difficult airway features. US has been demonstrated to be superior for locating the CTM than landmark palpation across body habitus, gender, and failed airway simulations. This technique carries a short learning curve even without prior airway US experience, along with a high retention rate. An illustrative tutorial is provided.ConclusionEmergency physicians may apply this US technique for CTM localization in preparation for an anticipated difficult airway. However, since this technique takes longer than landmark palpation, using US is not recommended once already in the midst of a failed airway situation.Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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