Anaes SAQs · Airway management

Direct laryngoscopy & orotracheal intubation — blade types, Cormack-Lehane grade, BURP, ETT selection and confirmation

The core direct-laryngoscopy SAQ — the Macintosh (curved, vallecula, indirect epiglottic lift) versus Miller (straight, behind the epiglottis, direct lift) blade; the sniffing position aligning the oral, pharyngeal and laryngeal axes; the step-by-step technique (left hand, right side of mouth, tongue swept left, lift at 45 degrees along the handle axis, never lever); the four Cormack-Lehane grades with grade three or four as the difficult intubation; BURP on the thyroid cartilage distinct from cricoid pressure; ETT types (cuffed adult, uncuffed paediatric with the cricoid as the narrowest point, reinforced for head-neck surgery, double-lumen for one-lung ventilation, the Murphy eye); and confirmation by sustained waveform capnography as the definitive test.