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©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Crit Care Med. Dec 9, 2025; 14(4): 106027
Published online Dec 9, 2025. doi: 10.5492/wjccm.v14.i4.106027
Published online Dec 9, 2025. doi: 10.5492/wjccm.v14.i4.106027
Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support in patients with difficult airway management: Case series of 13 patients
Mugahid Eltahir, Ibrahim Fawzy, Abdulsalam Saif Ibrahim, Ezzeddin A Ibrahim, Ahmed Labib Shehatta, Department of Internal Medicine, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha 3050, Qatar
Ibrahim Fawzy, Abdulsalam Saif Ibrahim, Ayman El-Menyar, Department of Clinical Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, Doha 24144, Qatar
Rashid Mazhar, Department of Surgery, Thoracic Surgery, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha 3050, Qatar
Nabil Abd Elhamid Shallik, Department of Anasthesia, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha 3050, Qatar
Nabil Abd Elhamid Shallik, Ahmed Labib Shehatta, Department of Clinical Anaethesiology, Weill Cornell Medicine, Doha 24144, Qatar
Ayman El-Menyar, Department of Surgery, Trauma and Vascular Surgery, Clinical Research, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha 3050, Qatar
Author contributions: Eltahir M contributed to conceptualization, data curation, writing initial draft; Fawzy I contributed to editing and reviewing the manuscript and supervision; Ibrahim AS contributed to conceptualization and supervision; Ibrahim EA contributed to data curation and methodology; Mazhar R contributed to data sources and supervision; Shallik NAE contributed to data source and supervision; El-Menyar A contributed to supervision and reviewing the manuscript; Shehatta AL contributed to data interpretation, editing and reviewing the final manuscript, all authors read and approved this submission.
Institutional review board statement: This retrospective case series has been approved by HMC's institutional review board (IRB-04-24-385). We ensure the confidentiality of patient data by de-identifying all study records.
Informed consent statement: Not applicable in this retrospective case series study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Authors declare no competing interests.
Data sharing statement: All data given in the manuscript.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ayman El-Menyar, Professor, Department of Surgery, Trauma and Vascular Surgery, Clinical Research, Hamad Medical Corporation, Al-Rayyan Street, Doha 3050, Qatar. aymanco65@yahoo.com
Received: February 14, 2025
Revised: April 9, 2025
Accepted: May 26, 2025
Published online: December 9, 2025
Processing time: 288 Days and 4.8 Hours
Revised: April 9, 2025
Accepted: May 26, 2025
Published online: December 9, 2025
Processing time: 288 Days and 4.8 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Veno-venous Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VV ECMO) is occasionally used in airway obstruction, but the literature remains limited. Difficult airway management can be fatal without advanced support strategies. Complex and deformed airways can challenge even the most experienced anesthesiologist. Current approaches and techniques for such patients may be inadequate. VV ECMO can be a bridge to definitive airway establishment and surgical intervention. VV ECMO can be safely and effectively instigated during the perioperative period and can avoid mishaps in difficult and failed intubation scenarios. Multidisciplinary team engagement and meticulous planning are key to the successful management of cases with difficult airways.