Fibreoptic nasal intubation in children with anticipated and unanticipated difficult intubation.

The establishment of a tracheal airway with direct laryngoscopy can be either a very difficult or an impossible task in children with congenital or acquired facial malformations. Out of 46 patients categorized as difficult tracheal intubation, fibreoptic laryngoscopy was used successfully in 44 children anaesthetized by mask with sevoflurane and oxygen or by an intravenous infusion of propofol and mask oxygenation. There were two failures (4.