This book provides a comprehensive evidence-based guide to the management of the difficult airway in adult patients. It offers recommendations grounded in current scientific evidence, educational frameworks, and practical implementation tools, particularly cognitive aids applicable to airway management in anesthesiology, critical care, emergency medicine, and prehospital care.
The principles presented in this book emphasize the importance of human factors, cognitive processes involved in decision-making during critical situations, and the optimization of airway management strategies to preserve adequate alveolar oxygenation and improve patient safety and quality of care.
This practical manual, enriched with recommendations and expert guidance, is an essential resource for anesthesiologists, intensivists, emergency physicians, and allied healthcare professionals involved in everyday clinical practice.
Dr. Manuel Ángel Gómez-Ríos, is a senior anesthesiologist, clinical researcher, and academic leader based in A Coruña, Spain. He is internationally recognized for his contributions to airway management, perioperative medicine, and patient safety, with a particular focus on videolaryngoscopy and the integration of human factors into clinical practice.
He works in the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine at the University Hospital Complex of A Coruña. He currently serves as Vice President of the Clinical Management Section of the Spanish Society of Anesthesiology, Resuscitation, and Pain Therapy (SEDAR) and is Co-founder of the Ibero-American Airway Society. He is also affiliated with the Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine Group at the University of A Coruña (UDC) and INIBIC, and serves as Visiting Professor at the Medical University of Łódź (Poland).
Dr. Gómez-Ríos has an extensive academic portfolio, with numerous peer-reviewed publications and active involvement in international collaborations and clinical guideline development. He holds editorial roles in journals such as BMC Anesthesiology, Journal of Clinical Anesthesia, and the Spanish Journal of Anesthesiology and Resuscitation, and regularly reviews for high-impact journals.
His research focuses on airway management, perioperative risk assessment, and the application of artificial intelligence in healthcare. He has led and participated in clinical trials and innovative projects.
In addition to his research, he is actively engaged in postgraduate education and mentorship, supervising doctoral and master’s students. His work integrates clinical excellence, scientific innovation, and leadership to advance safer, evidence-based anesthesiology worldwide.
Professor André van Zundert, is a double-boarded anesthesiologist-intensivist who worked in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, for 30 years and relocated to Brisbane, QLD, Australia, in 2013, where he was asked to set up an academic department. He personally established, directed, and funded the UQ-awarded ‘Centre for Excellence and Innovation in Anaesthesia', a premier teaching, training, testing, quality care and research center. Besides working at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, he holds professorial appointments at the University of Queensland, Queensland University of Technology, Queensland Brain Institute, and Udayana University (Denpasar, Indonesia). Recently, he was honored to lead the newly established ‘André van Zundert Research and Education Center’ at the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China.
Professor van Zundert’s scholarly output includes some 150 airway-related scientific publications (out of a total of 550), including world guidelines on videolaryngoscopy. He is recognized as one of the ‘top ten world experts in airway management’, contributing to the revolution in airway management. He is one of the foundational figures of videolaryngoscopy, moving the speciality ‘from mirrors to monitors’. By championing the transition from ‘blind’ clinical techniques to ‘vision-guided’ precision, he achieved a monumental leap in patient safety. His clinical vision further led to the introduction of vision-incorporated third-generation videolaryngeal mask airways into routine practice, providing clinicians with unprecedented control and positioning accuracy during difficult airway management.
In addition, Professor van Zundert pioneered safety in obstetric and regional anaesthesia. The formula he proposed for safe and effective pain relief during childbirth is now a staple of clinical practice worldwide. He is one of the founders of the combined spinal-epidural regional anaesthesia and introduced the segmental thoracic spinal anaesthesia technique. Beyond clinical tools, Professor van Zundert is at the forefront of unravelling the molecular mechanisms of general anaesthesia, including researching new reversal agents that counteract general anesthetics. His scientific work has been recognized by dozens of (inter)national awards. He supervised more than 50 PhD-Doctorates, which he considers his most important legacy.
