The Combitube oesophageal-tracheal double lumen airway for difficult intubation.

The esophageal-tracheal double-lumen airway: rescue for the difficult airway.

A rescue airway device is used when conventional methods of intubation fail to achieve control of the airway. Although the laryngeal mask airway is often used in the operating room should endotracheal intubation fail, the esophageal-tracheal double-lumen airway represents another alternative rescue airway device. Nurse anesthetists may encounter patients with an in situ esophageal-tracheal doub...

The oesophageal tracheal combitube for difficult intubation.

Rescue ventilation: resolving a "cannot mask ventilate, cannot intubate" situation during exchange of a Combitube for a definitive airway.

Our anesthesia care team was called to care for a patient who was admitted to the emergency department with the esophageal-tracheal double-lumen airway device (Combitube, Tyco Healthcare, Nellcor, Pleasanton, California) in place, which needed to be exchanged for a definitive airway because the patient required an extended period of mechanical ventilation. Several techniques were attempted to e...

New airways for resuscitation?

Over the last 15 years supraglottic airway devices (SADs), most notably the classic laryngeal mask airway (LMA) have revolutionised airway management in anaesthesia. In contrast for resuscitation, both in and outside hospital, facemask ventilation and tracheal intubation remain the mainstays of airway management. However there is evidence that both these techniques have complications and are of...

Esophageal rupture with the use of the Combitube: report of a case and review of the literature.

The Combitube (Tyco-Kendall, Mansfield, MA) is a supraglottic airway device that has been used as an adjunct in the management of a difficult airway after failed attempts at endotracheal intubation both during cardiopulmonary arrest and in the setting of acute trauma (Fig 1). This device has replaced the previous esophageal obturator airway due to several reports of esophageal rupture. It has b...