(Originally presented by Dr Justin Fong)
- Predicting difficult mask-ventilation is hard
- 94% of difficult mask-ventilation is unanticipated
- Previous difficult mask-ventilation can predict future difficulty
- “People don’t die from a lack of intubation, they die from a lack of ventilation”
- No classification system to date has been widely adopted in routine clinical use
- Descriptions are limited to subjective statements
- “easy” or “hard – with guedel”
- Capnography is the gold-standard for identifying ventilation
- ANZCA requirement for every GA
- Available for every sedated patient
- “Best capnography trace achieved”
- Proposed as an objective measure to communicate difficulty
- Equivalent to Cormack-Lehane scale for laryngoscopy
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