The Airtraq laryngoscope for emergency tracheal intubation without interruption of chest compression.

The 2005 American Heart Association Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) Guidelines emphasize minimizing the interruption of chest compression to maximize coronary and cerebral perfusion pressure. In an emergency situation, airway management is often performed by a less experienced physician, in sub-optimal conditions. Introduction of video laryngoscopes might have benefits in these situations. The Airtraq enables inexperienced operators to obtain an optimal view for tracheal intubation without requiring the alignment of the oral, pharyngeal, and tracheal axes, and it reduces the time to secure the airway and the incidence of failed tracheal intubation by novice laryngoscopists. The authors report a case of a 61-year-old man presented to their Medical Emergency Team for inhospital cardiac arrest in radiology suite