Background: Oropharyngeal airways are used both to facilitate airway patency during mask ventilation as well as conduits for flexible scope intubation, though none excel at both. A novel device, the Articulated Oral Airway (AOA), is designed to facilitate flexible scope intubation by active displacement of the tongue. Whether this active tongue displacement also facilitates mask ventilation, thus adding dual functionality, is unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNasotracheal intubation can be both challenging and traumatic, especially in cases of atypical anatomy. We present a series of 3 such cases in which an endotracheal tube introducer (bougie) was used to facilitate successful, atraumatic, nasotracheal intubation via Seldinger technique. The technique described can guide a nasotracheal tube through narrow nasal passages, small pharyngeal spaces, and past acute laryngeal approach angles, all without transoral manipulation of the tube.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Intubation success in patients with predicted difficult airways is improved by video laryngoscopy. In particular, acute-angle video laryngoscopes are now frequently chosen for endotracheal intubation in these patients. However, there is no evidence concerning whether different acute-angle video laryngoscopes can be used interchangeably in this scenario and would allow endotracheal intubation with the same success rate.
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