OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of video laryngoscopy on the rate of endotracheal intubation on first laryngoscopy attempt among critically ill adults. DESIGN A randomized, parallel-group, pragmatic trial of video compared with direct laryngoscopy for 150 adults undergoing endotracheal intubation by Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine fellows. SETTING Medical ICU in a tertiary, academic m...

Tracheal intubation is an important procedure in anesthesia and emergency medicine. The standard intubation technique is direct laryngoscopy using a Macintosh blade; however, video laryngoscopy has become common and research has shown several advantages of video laryngoscopy over direct laryngoscopy. In the present study we investigated whether video laryngoscopy resulted in the intubating pers...

STUDY OBJECTIVE External cricoid and thyroid cartilage manipulations are commonly taught to facilitate laryngeal view during intubation. We compare the laryngeal views during laryngoscopy with 4 manipulations (no manipulation, cricoid pressure, backward-upward-rightward pressure [BURP], and bimanual laryngoscopy) to determine the method that optimizes laryngeal view. METHODS This was a random...

In 50 morbidly obese patients, we quantified the soft tissue of the neck from the skin to the anterior aspect of the trachea at the vocal cords using ultrasound. Thyromental distance, mouth opening, limited neck mobility, modified Mallampati score, abnormal upper teeth, neck circumference and sleep apnoea were assessed as predictors of difficult laryngoscopy. Of the nine (18%) cases of difficul...

Transient increase in heart rate and mean arterial pressure commonly occur during manipulation of the airway via direct laryngoscopy. This phenomenon is understood to be due to a sympathetic nervous system reflex causing an increase in plasma catecholamines. Rarely, severe bradycardia and possible asystole can occur following laryngoscopy. One previous report described asystole during suspensio...

OBJECTIVE To compare pathologic results obtained via in-office transnasal fiberoptic laryngoscopy (TFL) to those of subsequent direct laryngoscopy in order to assess the accuracy of TFL as a diagnostic tool. PATIENTS One hundred and seventeen patients with suspicious laryngeal lesions. METHODS All patients underwent in-office biopsies. All patients with malignant diagnosis were referred to ...

There are a few reports about bradycardia or asystole caused by direct laryngoscopy. However, we encountered severe bradycardia in response to suspension laryngoscopy for laryngeal polypectomy after safely completing tracheal intubation using a direct laryngoscope with a curved blade. The tip of the curved blade of the direct laryngoscope is positioned at the vallecula (between the base of the ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE There is conflicting evidence as to whether neck circumference (NC) is related to a difficult laryngoscopy in obese patients. The objectives of this study were to determine the performance of the NC in defining a difficult laryngoscopy, and to identify factors predicting a difficult laryngoscopy among those obese patients. MATERIAL AND METHOD This prospective study wa...