Patients who undergo general anesthesia for surgical procedures frequently need to have a breathing tube placed ("tracheal intubation") for the duration of the procedure. Most often airway management is routine for an experienced anesthesiologist. Less often, airway management can be difficult and can result in patient harm. In order to reduce risk, anesthesiologists routinely evaluate patients' airways by obtaining a relevant history and doing a physical exam, which can aid in predicting which airways may be difficult to manage. The "gold standard" for management of the anticipated difficult airway is to perform an awake flexible bronchoscopic intubation after anesthetizing the airway with local anesthesia. This affords added safety because the airway remains patent and the patient breaths spontaneously until a tracheal tube is secured, at which point general anesthesia can be induced.