Abstract
Accessing a patient’s airway is a daily routine of general surgeons, either in elective procedures that require general anesthesia or in emergencies to guarantee the patient’s life. Airway maintenance could be simple for the majority of patients, but a difficult airway may become a nightmare in a few minutes and compromise the patient’s life if not adequately managed. In a general hospital or a multidisciplinary service, the general surgeon will surely be needed if the emergency team faces difficulty establishing a patient’s airway. To address such problem, a surgeon possesses a large therapeutic arsenal, being able to use maneuvers that solve airway obstruction or even utilizing surgical procedures like cricothyroidotomy or tracheostomy.