Videolaryngoscopy and Cormack and Lehane grading

Radical evolution: the 2015 Difficult Airway Society guidelines for managing unanticipated difficult or failed tracheal intubation

“…Interestingly, the new guidelines appear to assume that these classifications apply equally well to both the Macintosh and videolaryngoscopes, which may not be the case [19]. Henceforth, simply writing 'grade 3' will be regarded as uninformative and unacceptable documentation (a subsequent anaesthetist may have to assume the worst case scenario of grade 3b).…”

The myth of the difficult airway: airway management revisited

“…However, accurate documentation of the intubation procedure is often ignored and standardisation of airway management documentation is still lacking. A flaw in airway management research is that much research into videolaryngoscopy still relies on the Cormack and Lehane score, which is not its intended use . Moreover, differentiation between Cormack and Lehane grades 2 and 3 is not easy, even amongst well‐trained professionals though the division of grade 2 into 2a/2b may help .…”

Case Report: Double lumen tube insertion in a morbidly obese patient through the non-channelled blade of the King Vision™ videolaryngoscope

“…Finally, an improved view of the glottis does not always translate into easier tracheal intubation. The ease of intubation depends on many factors: (i) the type and size of the videolaryngoscope; (ii) the experience of the laryngoscopist; (iii) the use of external laryngeal manipulation; (iv) the optimization of head positioning; and (v) the use of adjuncts such as a stylet 12 . In the present case, endobronchial intubation was successfully performed during the first intubation attempt by an anesthesiologist who has an experience with more than 200 tracheal intubations using King Vision™ VL.…”