Sonographically guided superior laryngeal nerve block during awake fiberoptic intubation

We report 5 patients who underwent ultrasound-guided superior laryngeal nerve block before awake intubation and general anesthesia. We used a 8- to 15-MHz hockey stick-shaped ultrasound transducer (HST15-8/20 linear probe, Ultrasonix) to visualize the superior laryngeal nerve. A 3.8-cm 25-G needle was inserted in real time and directed toward the superior laryngeal nerve followed by circumferential placement of local anesthetic. All 5 patients tolerated subsequent awake fiberoptic intubation with either minimal or no sedation. Sonographically guided superior laryngeal nerve block may be useful in patients where identification of landmarks in the neck is difficult as a result of patient anatomy.