Abstract :
Airway management is an important aspect of anaesthesia practice, entailing not only a thorough expertise, but also familiarity with alternate techniques, especially when surgery is for upper airway pathology. A 7-year old child with palatal fistula presented to our pre-anaesthetic clinic, for its closure by tongue flap. Child had been previously operated for cleft lip and palate. Palatal fistula closure was done in two stages. 1st stage included tongue flap being attached to the fistula and 2nd stage included the release of this tongue flap. We will be discussing the airway management of this case, and especially the 2nd stage where tongue had occupied much of the oral cavity, making administration of general anaesthesia a challenge in such cases.
Keyword :
Palatal fistula, Tongue flap, Anaesthesia, Difficult airway