Objectives: To evaluate if the use of apneic oxygenation during tracheal intubation in children is feasible and would decrease the occurrence of oxygen desaturation. Design: Prospective pre/post observational study. Setting: A large single-center noncardiac PICU in North America. Patients: All patients less than 18 years old who underwent primary tracheal intubation from August 1, 2014, to September 30, 2018. Interventions: Implementation of apneic oxygenation for all primary tracheal intubation as quality improvement. Measurements and Main Results: Total of 1,373 tracheal intubations (661 preimplementation and 712 postimplementation) took place during study period. Within 2 months, apneic oxygenation use reached to predefined adherence threshold (> 80% of primary tracheal intubations) after implementation and sustained at greater than 70% level throughout the postimplementation. Between the preimplementation and postimplementation, no significant differences were observed in patient demographics, difficult airway features, or providers. Respiratory and procedural indications were more common during preintervention. Video laryngoscopy devices were used more often during the postimplementation (pre 5% vs post 75%; p < 0.001). Moderate oxygen desaturation less than 80% were observed in fewer tracheal intubations after apneic oxygenation implementation (pre 15.4% vs post 11.8%; p = 0.049); severe oxygen desaturation less than 70% was also observed in fewer tracheal intubations after implementation (pre 10.4% vs post 7.2%; p = 0.032). Hemodynamic tracheal intubation associated events (i.e., cardiac arrests, hypotension, dysrhythmia) were unchanged (pre 3.2% vs post 2.0%; p = 0.155). Multivariable analyses showed apneic oxygenation implementation was significantly associated with a decrease in moderate desaturation less than 80% (adjusted odds ratio, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.34–0.88) and with severe desaturation less than 70% (adjusted odds ratio, 0.54; 95% CI, 0.31–0.96) while adjusting for tracheal intubation indications and device. Conclusions: Implementation of apneic oxygenation in PICU was feasible, and was associated with significant reduction in moderate and severe oxygen desaturation. Use of apneic oxygenation should be considered when intubating critically ill children.

Background Sedated and awake tracheal intubation approaches are considered safest in adults with difficult airways, but little is known about the outcomes of sedated intubations in children. The primary aim of our study is to compare the first attempt success rate of tracheal intubation during sedated tracheal intubation vs. tracheal intubation under general anesthesia (GA). We hypothesized that sedated intubation would be associated with a lower first attempt success rate and more complications than general anesthesia. Methods We used data from an international observational registry, Pediatric Difficult Intubation Registry, which prospectively collects data about tracheal intubation in children with difficult airways. We compared the use of sedation versus general anesthesia for tracheal intubation. Our primary outcome was the first-attempt success of tracheal intubation. Secondary outcomes included the number of intubation attempts and non-severe and severe complications. We used propensity score matching with a matching ratio up to 1:15 to reduce bias due to measured confounders. Results Between 2017 and 2020, 34 hospitals submitted 1839 anticipated difficult airway cases that met inclusion criteria for the study. Of these, 75 patients received sedation and 1764 patients received GA. Propensity score matching resulted in 58 patients in the sedation group and 522 patients in the GA group. The rate of first-attempt success of tracheal intubation was 28/58 (48.3%) in the sedation group and 250/522 (47.9%) in the GA-group (OR 1.06, 95% CI 0.60 – 1.87; p=0.846); The median number of intubations attempts was 2 [IQR 1, 3] in the sedation group and 2 [IQR 1, 2] in the GA group. The GA group had 6/522 (1.1%) intubation failures versus 0/58 in the sedation group. However, Sixteen of fifty-eight (27.6%) sedation cases had to be converted to GA for successful tracheal intubation. Complications were similar between the groups, and the rate of severe complications was low. Conclusion Sedation and GA had a similar rate of first-attempt success of tracheal intubation in children with difficult airways; however, 27.6% of the sedation cases needed to be converted to GA to complete tracheal intubation. Complications overall were similar between the groups, and the rate of severe complications was low.

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External laryngeal manipulation during direct laryngoscopy was associated with lower initial tracheal intubation attempt success in critically ill children, even after adjusting for underlying differences in patient factors and provider levels. The indiscriminate use of external laryngeal manipulation cannot be recommended.