Large cervical osteophyte--another cause of difficult flexible fibreoptic intubation.
A patient suffering from ankylosing spondylitis required surgical excision of a large anterior osteophyte of the cervical spine. Fibreoptic nasal intubation was difficult due to distortion of the airway by the osteophyte. This cause of difficult flexible fibreoptic intubation has not been described previously.
Department of Anaesthesia, Royal Free Hospital, Hampstead, London.
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DN
Ranasinghe
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Calder
D000368:Aged; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D005336:Fiber Optic Technology; D006801:Humans; D007442:Intubation, Intratracheal; D013128:Spinal Osteophytosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery; D013167:Spondylitis, Ankylosing / Q000150:complications