[Anesthesia and resuscitation in emergency maxillofacial surgery]. / Anesthésie et réanimation en chirurgie maxillo-faciale d'urgence

A series of 290 cases of maxillo facial trauma permitted the authors to draw up the indications for resuscitation and surgery. Restoration of the permeability of the airways is most often obtained by oral intubation under non-depressor pharmcological agents. The difficulties encountered during intubation were usually linked to pain, but sometimes had a mainly mechanical origin, particularly during zygomatic and malar bone fractures. Tracheotomy was exceptional. Hemorrhage was often the major obstacle and, in certain cases, could only be controlled by immobilisation of the fragments. The anaesthetic technique is very similar to that used in neurosurgery.