Awake tracheal intubation using the Airtraq^® laryngoscope: a case series

Abstract

The Airtraq laryngoscope (AL) is a new single use indirect laryngoscope designed to facilitate tracheal intubation in anaesthetised patients either with normal or difficult airway anatomy. It is designed to provide a view of the glottis without alignment of the oral, pharyngeal and tracheal axes. We report four cases of successful awake tracheal intubation using the AL. The first case is a patient with severe ankylosing spondylitis and the other three cases with anticipated difficult airway. An awake intubation under sedation and topical airway anaesthesia was chosen. We consider that the AL can be used effectively to accomplish an awake intubation in patients with a suspected or known difficult airway and may be a useful alternative where other methods for awake intubation have failed or are not available.

The King Vision™ video laryngoscope for awake intubation: series of cases and literature review

“…The King Vision, Airtraq, and Pentax-AWS are from a group of airway devices with a specially incorporated channel for the endotracheal tube. Dimitriou et al reported on a series of cases using the Airtraq device for awake intubation in suspected difficult intubation 5. Xue et al used the Airtraq device for nasal awake intubation 6.…”

A review of video laryngoscopes relevant to the intensive care unit

“…[5859] Case reports have also described its use in awake intubations. [60] The learning curve for the device for airway novices has also been shown to be short when compared with direct laryngoscopy. [6162]…”

Airtraq® optical laryngoscope for tracheal intubation in patients with severe ankylosing spondylitis: A report of two cases

“…in a case series of four patients with difficult airway reported successful awake intubation using Airtraq laryngoscope. [11] Basaranoglu et al . also used Airtraq successfully as rescue device following failed awake fibreoptic intubation in a patient with severe ankylosing spondylitis.…”