Anticipated difficult airway management in a resource-constrained environment: Two case reports

Abstract

In these reports we describe two cases of anticipated difficult airway. First one was secondary to a large thyroid gland in a resource-constrained environment without much-needed advance airway management equipment. In an improvised three-step approach to establish a definitive airway coupled with thyroidectomy, significant improvement in general outlook of the patient was observed. Second case was that of a large fungating squamous cell carcinomatous mass involving nasal and maxillary regions. Apart from clinical consequences, these cases provides an impetus to develop difficult airway algorithms for local populace and brings to fore one of myriads of difficult situations encountered in secondary and tertiary care hospitals of Pakistan.