Globally, oral cancers have a high incidence among all malignancies. In India almost 30% of newly detected malignancies annually are due to oral cancers. 

Surgery is the preferred modality of initial treatment in locoregionally advanced oral cavity cancers. Malignant involvement of the oral cavity often poses a challenge to the anaesthesiologist. Oral cancer patients commonly present with ‘difficult airway’ which is conventionally defined as ‘the clinical situation in which a conventionally trained anaesthesiologist experiences difficulty with facemask ventilation of the upper airway, difficulty with tracheal intubation, or both’. Factors responsible include distortion of upper airway anatomy by tumour, decreased inter-incisor gap, and fixation of soft tissue of upper airway by surgical scarring or fibrosis. Prior radiation therapy might lead to restricted mouth opening and limited neck movements. Routine methods of airway management during general anaesthesia are usually not sufficient in such patients. 

 Apart from difficult airway, other concerns include shared airway, prolonged surgery and postoperative airway oedema. 

A detailed assessment of airway is of prime importance in oral cancer patients both in the pre-anaesthetic checkups as well in the pre-operative setting. Careful planning and execution would reduce perioperative morbidity and length of hospital stay. 

In this study, we aim to describe the frequency and type of procedures used in establishing a secure airway, and the duration and type of postoperative ventilatory support needed by the patients undergoing surgery for oral cancers. We also aim to observe the effect of airway management techniques on the immediate clinical outcome by assessing the length of postoperative intensive care unit stay. A study to this effect would allow us to better evaluate and manage such patients and predict outcomes in the perioperative period. Hence this study has been planned