Force and Pressure Distribution Using Macintosh and GlideScope Laryngoscopes in Normal Airway: an in Vivo Study

Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome

Status: Completed

Conditions: Tracheal Intubation; Laryngoscopy

Treatments: Procedure: Forces applied by laryngoscope

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01685320

PressureCara

Details and patient eligibility

About

Forces applied on soft upper tissues by different laryngoscope blades during direct laryngoscopy and intubation are considered to be major stimuli to cause serious damages to the patients. The aim of this study is to compare the force and pressure applied to soft tissue in order to achieve the same glottis view comparing direct laryngoscopy and videolaryngoscopy in vivo.

Full description

Forces applied on soft upper tissues by different laryngoscope blades during direct laryngoscopy and intubation are considered to be major stimuli to cause serious damages to the patients, such as local injures to incisors, larynx and spinal column, or hemodynamic changes in heart rate and/or blood pressure due to autonomic nervous system stimulation.

In order to reduce risk of such injures, indirect videolaryngoscopy provides the advantage of an easier laryngeal visualization with less need for the mouth-pharyngeal-laryngeal axes alignment, thereby reducing the detrimental effects above mentioned.

The aim of this study is to measure the minimal force exertion to achieve not only glottis view but also a successful intubation, comparing GlideScope and Macintosh laryngoscope, in patients with normal airway conditions. Furthermore, The investigators measured the following parameters: pressure distribution upon the blade; time required to visualize the glottis; time required to complete oro-tracheal intubation.

Enrollment: 30 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 65 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Patients classified as American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status (ASA-PS) class 1 or 2
• Patients whose intubation was associated with a Cormack-Lehane grade 1

Exclusion criteria

• younger than 18 yrs
• older than 65 yrs
• body-mass index (BMI) between 18 and 30
• predicted difficult intubation according to SIAARTI (Italian Society Anaesthesia, Analgesia, Resuscitation and Intensive Care)

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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30 participants in 2 patient groups

Direct laryngoscope

Active Comparator group

Description:

Includes cases in which the forces applied by Macintosh direct laryngoscope onto soft tissue of the pharynx during glottis visualization and intubation were measured.

Treatment:

Procedure: Forces applied by laryngoscope

Indirect laryngoscope

Active Comparator group

Description:

Includes cases in which the forces applied by GlideScope indirect laryngoscope onto soft tissue of the pharynx during glottis visualization and intubation were measured.

Treatment:

Procedure: Forces applied by laryngoscope