Laryngoscope plastic blades in scheduled general anesthesia patients: a comparative randomized study

Abstract

Study objective: To compare two brands of disposable plastic laryngoscope blades, Vital View plastic blades and Heine XP plastic blades, with the reusable Heine Classic+ Macintosh metal blades.

Design: Prospective randomized, controlled, single-blinded study.

Setting: Operating room of a university-affiliated hospital.

Patients: 519 patients without criteria for predicted difficult intubation, undergoing scheduled surgery during general anesthesia.

Interventions: Patients were randomized to three groups according to laryngoscope blade brand.

Measurements: Difficult tracheal intubation was evaluated by the Intubation Difficulty Scale (IDS) (IDS > 5 = procedure involving moderate to major difficulty).

Main results: The percentage of intubations with an IDS > 5 was 3.1% in Group M (metal blade group), 5.1% in Group V (Vital View plastic blade group), and 10.0% in Group H (Heine plastic blade group). A significant difference was noted between Groups M and H (P = 0.02) but not between Groups M and V.

Conclusions: Intubation may be more challenging when using Heine XP plastic blades but no significant difference exists between Vital-View plastic blades and Heine Classic+ metal blades.