[Perioperative airway management for patients with morbid obesity]

The excess fatty tissues on the head, neck, thorax, and abdomen of morbid obese patients can impede the patency of the upper airway and impair lung functions. Meanwhile, these patients often have comorbidities such as obstructive sleep apnea, hypoventilation syndrome, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and asthma, which may result in difficult airway, intraoperative hypoventilation, and postoperative respiratory depression. Therefore, perioperative airway management for morbid obese patients may pose a big challenge to anesthesiologists. Anesthesiologists should know well about the pathophysiological features of respiratory system and grasp rational management principles, so as to improve the safety and effectiveness of perioperative airway management and optimize the clinical prognosis.