Difficult airway management - 2020 version

61-year old patient procedes to undergo an elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Basic pre-operative assesment has been made; there are no serious risk factors present (PMH: varicose veins in lower extremities, hypertension, pharmacologically managed, ASA II). She comes to your office for an anaesthetist’s assessment. What are the main criteria for the assessment of difficult airway?

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Patient’s history of previous difficult intubation is the only reliable factor for difficult airway assessment.

You perform a complete LEMON score assessment.

Assesment of congenital anomalies and facial or neck trauma are the only criterias for difficult airway.

Difficult airway assesment is not neccesary in this case, since the patient’s airway will be managed by a supraglottic airway device (SAD).

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PMH - patient's medical history
ASA - American Society of Anesthesiologists - physical status classification system that was developed for simple categorization of patients based on their risk of complications during the surgery
SAD - supraglotticair device