[Preclinical transtracheal emergency ventilation. Animal experimental comparison of two techniques]

Abstract

Introduction: Prehospital transtracheal ventilation via a needle cricothyroidotomy may be lifesaving in cannot-intubate-cannot-ventilate situations. A self-made device consisting of a three-way stopcock placed between a transtracheal airway catheter and an oxygen supply was constructed and the effectiveness of the device was compared with a hand-triggered emergency jet generator in animal experiments.

Materials and methods: An emergency transtracheal airway catheter was inserted into the trachea of 10 anesthetized pigs (18-35 kgbw) and a situation of partial expiratory airway obstruction was established. All pigs were ventilated in a randomized order via the transtracheal airway catheter with the hand-triggered emergency jet injector and the self-made device for 15 min each.

Results: With both devices satisfactory oxygenation and ventilation was achieved in all animals.

Conclusions: The efficacy of the self-made device during the experiment was comparable with the efficacy of the hand-triggered emergency jet injector.