Apneic oxygenation during emergency airway management

Abstract

To the Editor, Tan et al. 1 performed a systematic review and metaanalysis to evaluate the effectiveness of apneic oxygenation (AO) in preventing oxygen desaturation during emergency intubations. The authors are to be applauded for trying to get the facts out of all the available, and sometimes conflicting, literature. I would like, however, to highlight two important points related to AO. Although the authors concluded, in agreement with most studies, that AO prolongs the duration of safe apnea, the technique should not be considered an alternative to proper pre-oxygenation. Pre-oxygenation, regardless of how it is performed, is an essential first step before any emergency airway intervention. Omitting pre-oxygenation and totally relying on AO to prevent desaturation during intubation attempts may result in serious life-threatening complications if a difficult intubation is encountered. 2 Second, the authors limited their meta-analysis to AO through the nasal route. The oral (or buccal) route has also been described and can prolong the safe apnea duration with even lower flow rates than those used with the nasal route.3 Either an oropharyngeal catheter or an adapted RAE tube can be secured on the left buccal space. Nasally administered oxygen may not reach the lungs if the airway is obstructed by the soft palate, a redundant upper pharyngeal wall as in sleep apnea patients, or the tongue, whereas using the oral route will ensure delivering the oxygen to the low pharyngeal supraglottic space. Finally, as the authors stated in their review, further clinical trials are required to firmly establish the effectiveness and optimize the technique of oxygen supplementation during emergency airway management.

In reply: Apneic oxygenation during emergency airway management

“…We thank Dr. El-Orbany for the comments regarding our paper on the use of apneic oxygenation (AO) to prevent oxygen desaturation during emergency intubations. 1 While our paper suggested a potential benefit of AO using nasal cannulae to prevent oxygen desaturation, 2 we agree that AO is not a replacement for good preoxygenation. Preoxygenation is the gold standard in preventing oxygen desaturation during intubation.…”

On‐site detection of succinylcholine in biomedical matrix by surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy

“…Among thousands of poisons and toxicants, a choline receptor blocker, succinylcholine chloride (also known as suxamethonium [SUX]), is widely used in first-line medication, acting as a depolarizing neuromuscular blocking agent. Clinically, an administration dose of 1.0 mg/kg of SUX is recommended to rapidly induce endotracheal intubation according to its 95% effective dose (ED 95 ) of 0.3 mg/kg and arouse an onset within about 60 s. [1,2] Hence, it is often employed to conduct auxiliary endotracheal intubation as a surgical anesthetic inducer and also causes respiratory depression and cardiac arrest if inappropriately used.…”