Awake Fiberoptic Intubation in Fast Track Ambulatory Surgery: A Case Report

An increasing number of surgical procedures are performed in the ambulatory setting, leading to improved patient comfort and cost-effectiveness. Patients with suspected or known difficult airways represent a challenge when anesthetized. This may explain why this patient group may be rejected for day-case surgery. We present 3 cases scheduled for day-case procedures with predicted difficult airways, where the feasibility of awake fiberoptic intubation is demonstrated in a Scandinavian fast track setting. Our hypothesis is that, with accurate preparations, intubation times are comparable with conventional intubation and that the procedure is associated with only minor patient discomfort.This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives License 4.0 (CCBY-NC-ND), where it is permissible to download and share the work provided it is properly cited. The work cannot be changed in any way or used commercially without permission from the journal.