Objective:

To analyze health services in the management of difficult airway in the operating room from the report of a clinical case.

Method:

Presentation of a clinical case of a 49-year-old male patient with a diagnosis of diabetes mellitus II plus bilateral renal lithiasis, who was prepared for emergency surgery due to a life-threatening condition of gallbladder lithiasis and sepsis.

Results and conclusion:

The patient was prepared for emergency surgery because of gallbladder lithiasis and life-threatening sepsis, which was first managed under a conductive anesthetic technique, which had to be changed to general anesthesia during the surgical procedure, and which was complicated by the finding of a difficult-to-manage airway.