[Awake fiberoptic intubation].

Airway management is a core task for anesthesiologists. Deficiencies in training or equipment as well as fateful complications in this field are responsible for a significant proportion of anesthesia-associated morbidity and mortality. Nowadays there are a variety of advanced technical aids on the market to overcome the difficult airway.

[Epidural anesthesia].

In epidural anaesthesia, the anaesthetist injects one or more drugs into the epidural space bordering on the spinal dura mater to achieve a "central" and/or "neuraxial" block. It is one of the earliest techniques in anaesthesia, originally performed exclusively with local anaesthetic agents. Adding other drugs and combining epidural with general anaesthesia or adapting the technique to the needs of children has extended the list of indications.

[Spinal anaesthesia].

In spinal anaesthesia, surgical analgesia and in most cases motor block is achieved by injecting one or more drugs into the cerebrospinal fluid. As one of the earliest methods of anaesthesia it was introduced into clinical practice in the late nineteenth century. Although later on it was more or less replaced by "modern" general anaesthesia, it has regained popularity due to its benefits for certain patient populations.

[Desflurane in acute intermittent porphyria].

Despite the low incidence of the acute porphyrias, a profound knowledge of the disease is essential for anaesthesiologists, as a variety of perioperatively administered drugs are potential triggers of an acute attack. There is an ongoing discussion about the use of volatile anaesthetics in porphyrias, but halothane and isoflurane seem to be safe. There is no clinical data or case report about the use of desflurane in this specific patient group, but its fast and relatively unchanged elimination and the minimal induction of the cytochrome P 450 system seem to be favorable in this setting.