Anaesthesia of the upper airway using topical anaesthetic and superior laryngeal nerve block.

Bilateral superior laryngeal nerve block was combined with topical application of local anaesthetic 140 times in 135 patients to anaesthetize the upper airway and facilitate tracheal intubation, laryngeal instrumentation, or to diminish the response to the endotracheal tube, in a patient already intubated. The technique was successful in 92% of attempts.