Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2016 Oct 24;6(10):e011089.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-011089.

Efficacy of various types of laryngoscope (direct, Pentax Airway Scope and GlideScope) for endotracheal intubation in various cervical immobilisation scenarios: a randomised cross-over simulation study

Affiliations
Comparative Study

Efficacy of various types of laryngoscope (direct, Pentax Airway Scope and GlideScope) for endotracheal intubation in various cervical immobilisation scenarios: a randomised cross-over simulation study

Jong Won Kim et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Objective: To compare the efficacy of direct laryngoscopy (DL), Pentax Airway Scope (PAWS) and GlideScope video laryngoscope (GVL) systems for endotracheal intubation (ETI) in various cervical immobilisation scenarios: manual in-line stabilisation (MILS), Philadelphia neck collar (PNC) (moderate limit of mouth opening) and Stifneck collar (SNC) (severe limit of mouth opening).

Design: Randomised cross-over simulation study.

Setting and participants: 35 physicians who had >30 successful ETI experiences at a tertiary hospital in Seoul, Korea.

Primary and secondary outcome measures: Participants performed ETI using PAWS, GVL and DL randomly in simulated MILS, PNC and SNC scenarios in our simulation centre. The end points were successful ETI and the time to complete ETI. In addition, modified Cormack-Lehane (CL) classification and pressure to teeth were recorded.

Results: In MILS, there were no significant differences in the rate of success of ETI between the three devices: 33/35(94.3%) for DL vs 32/35(91.4%) for GVL vs 35/35(100.0%) for PAWS; p=0.230). PAWS achieved successful ETI more quickly (19.8 s) than DL (29.6 s) and GVL (35.4 s). For the PNC scenario, a higher rate of successful ETI was achieved with GVL 33/35 (94.3%) than PAWS 29/35 (82.9%) or DL 25/35 (71.4%) (p=0.040). For the SNC scenario, a higher rate of successful ETI was achieved with GVL 28/35(80.0%) than with DL 14/35(40.0%) and PAWS 7/35(20.0%) (p<0.001). For the PNC and SNC scenarios, GVL provided a relatively good view of the glottis, but a frequent pressure to teeth occurred.

Conclusions: All three devices are suitable for ETI in MILS. DL is not suitable in both neck collar scenarios. PAWS showed faster intubations in MILS, but was not suitable in the SNC scenario. GVL is most suitable in all cervical immobilisation scenarios, but may cause pressure to teeth more frequently.

Keywords: cervical stabilization; direct laryngoscopy; tracheal intubation; video laryngoscopy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram of the study.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Kaplan-Meier analysis of cumulative endotracheal intubation success rate using direct laryngoscopy, GlideScope and Pentax AWS in various cervical immobilisation scenarios: manual in-line cervical stabilisation, Philadelphia neck collar and Stifneck collar. ETI, endotracheal intubation; MILS, manual in-line stabilisation.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Graphs of Modified Cormack-Lehane classifications of endotracheal intubation using direct laryngoscopy, GlideScope and Pentax AWS in various cervical immobilisation scenarios: manual in-line cervical stabilisation, Philadelphia neck collar and Stifneck collar. Pentax AWS, Pentax Airway Scope.

References

    1. Dupanovic M, Fox H, Kovac A. Management of the airway in multi-trauma. Curr Opin Anaesthesiol 2010;23:276–82. 10.1097/ACO.0b013e3283360b4f - DOI - PubMed
    1. American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma. Chapter 2 Airway and ventilatory management. In: American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma. 8th edn Advanced trauma life support for doctors, student course manual. Chicago, IL: American College of Surgeons, 2008:33–5.
    1. Nolan JP, Wilson ME. Orotracheal intubation in patients with potential cervical spine injuries. An indication for the gum elastic bougie. Anaesthesia 1993;48:630–3. 10.1111/j.1365-2044.1993.tb07133.x - DOI - PubMed
    1. Smith CE, Pinchak AB, Sidhu TS et al. Evaluation of tracheal intubation difficulty in patients with cervical spine immobilization: fiberoptic (WuScope) versus conventional laryngoscopy. Anesthesiology 1999;91:1253–9. 10.1097/00000542-199911000-00015 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Thiboutot F, Nicole PC, Trépanier CA et al. Effect of manual in-line stabilization of the cervical spine in adults on the rate of difficult orotracheal intubation by direct laryngoscopy: a randomized controlled trial. Can J Anaesth 2009;56:412–18. 10.1007/s12630-009-9089-7 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources