Society for Airway Management: An International, Multidisciplined Organization

he Society for Airway Management (SAM) is a subspecialty organization whose mission is to promote the scientific advancement and practice of airway management by encouraging research, education and instruction of airway skills and devices. SAM is an active Society, and airway management issues are some of the most relevant issues among anesthesiologists.

Over the past decade, the Society has grown to include more than 400 members. While the majority of members are anesthesiologists, other disciplines such as emergency medicine, ear, nose and throat (ENT) and oromaxillofacial surgeons, critical care physicians and emergency medical technicians add to the diversity of the Society, highlighting the impact of SAM on other specialties.

What Does SAM Have to Offer?
The Society offers many resources that a practicing anesthesiologist may find useful. The SAM Web site <www.SAMhq.com> can be a great resource for current information on airway management issues and includes links to other useful sites. As a member, you can participate in the SAM forum, our international listserve where you can read and post interesting airway challenges and queries. You will converse with airway experts, including inventors of many airway devices. Recently discussed issues include:

• “What is the appropriate airway equipment for an outpatient surgery facility?”

• “With the proliferation of many new video laryngoscopes, where do experts see these devices eventually fitting in the difficult airway algorithm?”

• “Will traditional direct laryngoscopy eventually be an outmoded technique?”

• “What’s new in airway topicalization for an awake intubation?”

No question goes unanswered.

SAM sponsors an annual meeting featuring experts around the world in airway management. Our most recent meeting was held in La Jolla, California, and was chaired by Elizabeth C. Behringer, M.D., of the University of California-Irvine. It was very well attended and received excellent reviews complimenting the organization and quality of the program. The Ovassapian Lecture, established in 2000 to honor Andranik Ovassapian, M.D., the initiator of SAM, was given by Jonathan L. Benumof, M.D. Previous Ovassapian lecturers have included Christopher D. Beatie, M.D., Stephen F. Dierdorf, M.D., Ian Calder, F.R.C.A., Archie Brain, M.D., F.F.A.R.C.S.I., and Richard Aghababian, M.D., F.A.C.E.P.

Ashu Wali, M.D., Baylor College of Medicine, and Lorraine J. Foley, M.D., Tufts School of Medicine, organized the hands-on workshops, which consisted of 27 stations taught by 37 instructors, the largest number in the history of SAM. Additionally, 43 abstracts were presented, the top three receiving merit awards: “Comparison of Insertion Times Between a New Indicator-Guided (IG) and Conventional Wire-Guided (WG) Cricothyroidotomy,” “The LMA CTrach™ and the ASA Difficult Airway Algorithm” and “Comparison of AuraOnce and LMA-Unique as an Intubation Conduit in Patients Undergoing Elective Surgery.” Starting this year, SAM will offer two research grants on a yearly basis to investigators performing research in airway-related topics. Applications will be available online on our Web site in the near future.

Our next SAM Annual Meeting will take place on September 14-16, 2007, in Houston, Texas, and will be chaired by David Z. Ferson, M.D., Director of Neuroanesthesia, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. As in the past, we will have national and international speakers, all experts in airway management, high-quality problem-based discussions and unique hands-on workshops. Additionally, there will be simulation stations for those interested in testing their knowledge and skills in various scenarios.

Further resources include publication of the Airway Gazette, our quarterly newsletter, edited by Gail I. Randel, M.D., Northwestern University, which provides interesting articles, case reports and journal/book reviews that focus on airway management. We encourage our members to submit letters, articles and comments for publication. We recently solidified a formal affiliation with the Journal of Clinical Anesthesia, and members are now able to receive a substantial subscription discount.

Integration With Other Specialties
Airway management is an integral aspect of all the subspecialties of anesthesiology. It also is an integral component of other areas of medicine, including critical care and emergency medicine specialties and several surgical specialties. Many of our members serve as expert consultants to the ASA task forces on Management of the Difficult Airway and Obstructive Sleep Apnea as well as several ASA subcommittees.

There are currently two active consensus panels working on forming a consensus opinion on important issues in airway management, including “Extubation of the Difficult Airway,” chaired by Thomas C. Mort, M.D., University of Connecticut; and “Should Bag Mask Ventilation Be Performed During the Application of Cricoid Pressure?” chaired by Richard M. Cooper, M.D., University of Toronto. We place a tremendous value on the input of our members and hold open forums at our annual meetings. We welcome and encourage all interested SAM members to contribute.

We are looking forward to another productive year and encourage those of you who have a special interest in airway management to become involved in this Society.

Carin A. Hagberg, M.D., is Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, and Director of Neuroanesthesia and Advanced Airway Management, University of Texas Medical School at Houston, Texas.