Comparison of Intubation Success of Video Laryngoscopy Versus Direct Laryngoscopy in the Difficult Airway Using High-Fidelity Simulation

Abstract

In the most difficult airway case, tongue edema, the video laryngoscope provided an enhanced view of the cords using less time, increased intubation success, and decreased the time to intubation.

The GlideScope<sup>®</sup> Video Laryngoscope and the Macintosh Laryngoscope Compared in a Simulated Difficult Airway with Immobilization and Bleeding—A Randomized, Prospective, Crossover Study

“…Especially, in patients with limited range of motion of the neck and/or tongue edema the glottis view is greatly improved [2,3,[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]15,[17][18][19]. In our study the view of the glottis was rated the same for both devices.…”

“…The initial publications utilized patients as study subjects [2,3,[6][7][8]12,17,18], while more recent reports, including this study, chose to use simulated airway models [4,5,10,11,[13][14][15][16]. We are not aware of any previous study that included blood in the airway.…”

“…Previous studies found the time to intubate with the GS is longer in normal airways, but only minimally longer to significantly shorter the more difficult the airway becomes [4,8,10,13,15,17].…”

“…Since the introduction of the GlideScope ® into clinical practice, it was compared with the Macintosh laryngoscope in several studies [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. In most studies the participants did not have experience with the GlideScope ® [2][3][4][5][6][11][12][13][14] and in some of the more recent studies the participants did not even have experience with direct laryngoscopy (medical students) [12,14].…”

Retrograde intubation in a case of cancrum oris with sygnathia

“…Recently the use of video technology to facilitate intubation is gaining importance. In several studies involving manikins and humans, video laryngoscopes in comparison to the conventional Macintosh blade has been found to improve the visualization of vocal cords (Cormack and Lehane Grading) during oral and nasotracheal intubation in normal as well as in difficult airway scenarios [2][3][4][5][6][7] . As a result, it is increasingly being used in management of difficult airway these days.…”