COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF AIRTRAQ OPTICAL LARYNGOSCOPE AND HUGE MED VIDEO LARYNGOSCOPE FOR LARYNGEAL VISUALISATION AND ENDOTRACHEAL INTUBATION IN ADULTS WITH ANTICIPATED DIFFICULT INTUBATION

Background and Aims: Complications arising from difficult or failed tracheal intubation still remains a leading cause of anaesthetic morbidity and mortality.This has lead to development of multiple novel laryngoscopes. This study was designed to compare performance of Airtraq optical laryngoscope with Huge Med Video laryngoscope for laryngeal visualisation and endotracheal intubation.

Material and Methods: In this prospective randomized clinical study, seventy ASA grade I and II patients aged 18-60 years of either gender scheduled for elective surgery under general anesthesia were randomly assigned into two groups:Group A and group B in which laryngoscopy and tracheal intubation was performed using Airtraq optical laryngoscope(group A) and HugeMed video laryngoscope(group B) respectively. The time taken and number of attempts for endotracheal intubation along with Cormack Lehane(CL) grading were recorded. Heart rate and blood pressure(SBP, DBP, MAP) were recorded at predefined time intervals.

Result: Mean intubation time was 15.3±11.791sec in group A compared to 34.1011±17.471sec in group B.Majority of patients in both groups were intubated in first attempt (97.1% and 94.3% in group A and group B respectively). Patients in both groups remained haemodynamically stable in the post intubation period. On comparing the ease of intubation, majority of patients in group A and group B had CL grade I, very few patients in group A [6(17.1%)] and in group B [2(5.7%)] had CL grade II.

Conclusion: Both Airtraq and Hug Med video laryngoscopes are effective devices for laryngoscopy and endotracheal intubation with high success rate of intubation although time needed for tracheal intubation is shorter with Airtraq optical laryngoscope.