Masui. The Japanese journal of anesthesiology
-
Majority of severe anesthetic complications result from airway difficulties. Among the airway difficulties, difficult mask ventilation is a key critical condition in the currently proposed difficult airway algorithms, and is probably the most life-threatening event. ⋯ Lateral neck radiographs for patients with suspected airway difficulties may provide useful information for identification of potential patients with difficult mask ventilation. Among the parameters measured by the radiographs, I recommend anesthesiologists to measure distance between the hyoid bone and mandibular plane, which possibly reflects anatomical balance of the upper airway maintenance.