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Definition of the Difficult Airway
A standard definition of the difficult airway cannot be identified in the available literature.
A difficult airway is defined as the clinical situation in which a conventionally trained physician experiences:
difficulty with face mask ventilation,
difficulty with tracheal intubation, or both.
The difficult airway represents a complex interaction between patient factors, the clinical setting, and the skills of the practitioner.
Suggested descriptions include (but are not limited to): difficult face mask ventilation difficult laryngoscopy difficult tracheal intubation
failed intubation