Airway problems can be avoided.

• Position: Anesthesiology - Important to report condition "difficult airway" upon surgery - Brief Article

As many as 2,000,000 surgical patients will learn this year that they have a medical condition that could make their surgical and anesthesia care more risky. Yet, when having a second surgery, many of these same patients fail to report this condition to their doctors.

According to researchers from the University of Chicago (Ill.), roughly five percent of surgical patients have what is commonly called a "difficult airway." This presents special challenges to physicians who have to insert a breathing tube (endotracheal catheter) through the mouth or nose into the throat to help the patient breathe during general anesthesia. Telling your doctors you have a "difficult airway" is as important as reporting a health condition, maintains anesthesiologist Joseph F. Foss.

This is because the safety of general anesthesia hinges on the correct placement of the endotracheal tube. The tube helps to keep the airway clear, prevents potentially fatal regurgitation from the stomach into the lungs, allows the removal of fluids from the airway...