Airway management in patients.

Stridor is caused by turbulent flow through a narrow airway. Common causes of stridor are deep neck infection, malignancy, angioneurotic oedema, trauma and congenital anomalies like laryngomalacia. The majority of these conditions can progress rapidly to complete airway obstruction. These conditions are traditionally managed with one of the following techniques: inhalational induction, awake tracheostomy, awake fibreoptic intubation or blind nasal intubation. The success and safety of each of these techniques continues to be debated.