INDICATIONS
- Airway management for general anesthesia with and without spontaneous ventilation
- Rescue airway after failed intubation or ineffective mask ventilation
- Facilitation of endotracheal intubation
- Situations in which airway control is desirable, but tracheal intubation may be difficult or contraindicated:
- Patients trapped in a sitting position
- Suspected cervical spine trauma
- Inability to extend or rotate the cervical spine due to congenital or acquired abnormalities
- Severe rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis
- History of cervical spine fusion
- History of atlantoaxial dislocation
- Patients with Down syndrome
CONTRAINDICATIONS
Relative Contraindications
- Increased aspiration risk
- Full stomach
- Intestinal obstruction
- Severe gastrointestinal reflux disease
- Diabetes with gastroparesis
- History of significant peptic ulcer disease
- History of gastric bypass or gastric stapling operation
- Pregnancy, particularly second and third trimester
- Significantly reduced pulmonary compliance
- Major trauma to maxilla, mandible, or larynx
- Unstable cervical spine
- Unusual operative positioning; particularly prone position
- Major intrathoracic surgery
- Major intraabdominal surgery
- Morbid obesity or patients requiring high inspiratory pressures for ventilation
- Tracheoesophageal fistula
