Airtraq Versus Fiberoptic for Awake Tracheal Intubation

Caen University Hospital

Status: Completed

Conditions: Intubation;Difficult; Airway Complication of Anesthesia; Awake Intubation

Treatments: Device: Videolaryngoscope Airtraq; Device: Fiberoptic bronchoscope

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03539185

2018-A00239-46

Details and patient eligibility

About

The airway management is a vital act in anesthesia. The gold standard technique for planned very difficult intubation is nasotracheal fiberoptic intubation. The success rate with this procedure is 98.8%. However, learning this technique is difficult and it's considered uncomfortable by patients and practitioners.

The Airtraq® videolaryngoscope is commonly used for difficult orotracheal intubation. Cases of awake intubation by Airtraq® have been described.

Furthermore, the French Society of Anesthesia-Resuscitation, in its last formalized expert recommendations (2017) on difficult intubation, proposes the use of video laryngoscopes as an alternative to the fiberoptic bronchoscope.

We propose a non-inferiority study evaluating the use of Airtraq® for the realization of a awake intubation compared to the gold standard (fiberoptic bronchoscope). This prospective randomized study should include 78 patients in two groups. The purpose of this study is to improve the comfort of patient and practitioner during an awake tracheal intubation, to facilitate the learning of the technique.

Enrollment: 78 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Formal indication of awake intubation or patient with two criteria of difficult intubation and ventilation
• Major patient
• Patient able to understand oral and written information

Exclusion criteria

• Mouth opening (inter-incisor distance) <16 mm does not allow insertion of the Airtraq® videolaryngoscope
• Surgery requires nasotracheal intubation
• Loco-regional anesthesia of larynx impossible

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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78 participants in 2 patient groups

Airtraq

Active Comparator group

Description:

Awake tracheal intubation using airtraq videolaryngoscope.

Treatment:

Device: Videolaryngoscope Airtraq

Fiberoptic

Active Comparator group

Description:

Awake nasotracheal tracheal intubation using flexible fiberoptic bronchoscope.

Treatment:

Device: Fiberoptic bronchoscope