Airway Management

Airway management includes a set of maneuvers and medical procedures performed to prevent and relieve an airway obstruction, ensuring an open pathway for gas exchange between a patient lungs and the atmosphere, whether by clearing a previously obstructed airway or by preventing obstruction in cases such as anaphylaxis, an obtunded patient or medical sedation. It is commonly divided into basic techniques, which are generally non-invasive and include head and neck maneuvers, abdominal thrusts and back blows, and advanced techniques, which require specialized training and equipment and are further grouped into supraglottic devices such as oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal airways, infraglottic techniques such as tracheal intubation, and surgical methods such as cricothyrotomy and tracheotomy. Airway management is a primary consideration in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, anesthesia, emergency medicine, intensive care medicine, neonatology and first aid, and is the first letter of the ABC treatment mnemonic.