A prospective cohort study of awake fibreoptic intubation practice at a tertiary centre

Abstract

Contemporary data are lacking for procedural practice, training provision and outcomes for awake fibreoptic intubation in the UK. We performed a prospective cohort study of awake fibreoptic intubations at a tertiary centre to assess current practice. Data from 600 elective or emergency awake fibreoptic intubations were collected to include information on patient and operator demographics, technical performance and complications. This comprised 1.71% of patients presenting for surgery requiring a general anaesthetic, with the majority occurring in patients presenting for head and neck surgery. The most common indication was reduced mouth opening (26.8%), followed by previous airway surgery or head and neck radiotherapy (22.5% each). Only five awake fibreoptic intubations were performed with no sedation, but the most common sedative technique was combined target-controlled infusions of remifentanil and propofol. Oxygenation was achieved with high-flow, heated and humidified oxygen via nasal cannula in 49.0% of patients. Most operators had performed awake fibreoptic intubation more than 20 times previously, but trainees were the primary operator in 78.6% of awake fibreoptic intubations, of which 86.8% were directly supervised by a consultant. The failure rate was 1.0%, and 11.0% of awake fibreoptic intubations were complicated, most commonly by multiple attempts (4.2%), over-sedation (2.2%) or desaturation (1.5%). The only significant association with complications was the number of previous awake fibreoptic intubations performed, with fewer complications occurring in the hands of operators with more awake fibreoptic intubation experience. Our data demonstrate that awake fibreoptic intubation is a safe procedure with a high success rate. Institutional awake fibreoptic intubation training can both develop and maintain trainee competence in performing awake fibreoptic intubation, with a similar incidence of complications and success compared with consultants.

Keywords: airway assessment; airway management; fibreoptic intubation; intubation techniques; training.