Airway Scope and Macintosh Laryngoscope for Tracheal Intubation in Patients Lying on the Ground

Intubation Clinical Trial

Official title: Airway Scope and Macintosh Laryngoscope for Tracheal Intubation in Patients Lying on the Ground

Status Completed

Clinical Trial Summary

Pre-hospital intubation is often required in sub-optimal conditions, such as in patients lying on the ground. Direct laryngoscopy and intubation of a patient lying supine on the ground is difficult because the intubator's head is far above the head of the patient. It is thus tricky to align the intubator's visual axis with the patient's tracheal axis. The Airway Scope is a new laryngoscope designed to facilitate intubation without requiring alignment of the oral, pharyngeal, and tracheal axes. We thus tested the hypothesis that the intubation with the Airway Scope is faster than the Macintosh laryngoscope in subjects lying on the ground.

Clinical Trial Description

Adult surgical patients were enrolled. Following anesthesia induction and muscle relaxation, direct laryngoscopy was performed as usual and airway characteristics noted. Patients were randomly assigned to tracheal intubation by either the Airway Scope (n=50) or the Macintosh laryngoscope (n=50). Intubation was performed from a table positioned at the height as the operating table, thus simulating intubating on the ground. Overall intubation success rate, time required for intubation, the number of attempts required for successful intubation, and airway complications related to intubation were recorded. ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Intubation

• NCT number: NCT00980590
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: The Cleveland Clinic
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: September 2008
• Completion date: February 2009