Sammanfattning
Introduction: The DDAR is a nationwide clinical database providing registration of patients with a difficult airway which has been diagnosed under general anaesthesia or prehospital treatment or during treatment in the ICU or a similar clinical setting. The DDAR collects and processes data on patients with a known difficult airway and forwards them to anaesthesiologists. Each patient registered in the database receives a so-called warning card, which he or she is required to show to an anaesthesiologist the next time he or she might be anaesthetised under general anaesthesia and is required to carry it at all times. Materials and methods: The database stores data on patients with difficult airway provided to it by various departments of anaesthesiology; it currently includes information on about 317 patients. Results: A difficult airway scenario often happens unexpectedly, and the positive predictive values of the usual criteria are quite low; a known difficult airway history, on the other hand, has the highest predictive value, about 70%. Discussion: It is our hope that providing information about difficult airway will in the future increase patient safety whilst providing valuable information to our colleagues and thus ensuring an appropriate treatment of patients with known difficult airway. The DDAR has been created to make a difficult airway less difficult.