Post-extubation dysphagia (PED) is a common complication in ICU patients and it worsens their prognosis and quality of their life after their discharge from the ICU. This pathologic condition is independently associated with adverse patient outcomes and high-risk patients should be early recognized, because this situation can lead to aspiration pneumonia. The underlying pathophysiology of dysphagia is multifactorial. A team consisted of doctors, nurses, dietologists, speech therapists and physical therapists should deal with the situation. Flexible endoscopic evaluation of swallowing and videofluoroscopy are necessary tests for the assessment. Screening ICU protocols lead in early identification and proper therapeutic interventions. Continue reading
Anesthesiologist always works around the oral and peri oral soft and hard tissue. Oral/nasal intubation might injure hard tissue or “knock out” the tooth. The present study was conducted among anesthetic specialist to assess the measures that they would take to manage an avulsed tooth that might occur during intubation & laryngoscopy. The present study involved 40 anesthetists working in private hospitals. They were asked to answer a questionnaire designed to evaluate the line of action that an anesthetist would follow in case of an iatrogenic tooth avulsion...
Continue reading
Difficulties or failure in airway management are common factors leading to death and brain damage as a direct result of anesthesia. Prediction of the difficult airway enables the anesthetists to prepare for this challenging clinical scenario. Although the ability to predict accurately a difficult airway preoperatively would be of great value, it is evident from the literature that no single airway assessment can reliably predict a difficult airway. The purpose of this paper is to define the difficult airway and to review the current literature on methods used for prediction of difficult airway.
Continue reading
