A history of the shared airway: anaesthesia in ENT

Abstract Background The specialties of ENT and anaesthesia have always had a unique relationship because of their longstanding history of co-operation over the shared airway. Methods This historical review narrates how the modern practice of ENT surgery has developed following advances in anaesthetic techniques, as well as inspiring them. Results From the earliest use of anaesthetic gases by Long, Wells and Morton, to their rapid adoption for use in tonsil and cleft palate surgical procedures, ENT surgeons were early beneficiaries of this new technology. The demands of surgery for facial injuries in World War II was a driver for anaesthetic advances, and Ivan Magill reinvented the specialty in response. Conclusion Further developments in managing the shared airway, including jet ventilation, total intravenous anaesthesia and awake fibre-optic intubation, have shaped the modern ENT operating theatre, and highlight the vital collaboration between ENT and anaesthesia over the past 150 years.