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Article Type

Original Study

Abstract

Background Airtraq laryngoscope was designed to facilitate tracheal intubation in patients with either normal or difficult airways to provide high quality view of the glottis without the need to align the oral, pharyngeal, and tracheal axes. This study evaluates the usefulness of this new device in morbidly obese patients who are deemed to be at high risk of difficult intubation. Methods Forty morbidly obese (BMI>35 kg/m 2 ) adult patients with American Society Of Anaesthiologist physical status I-II were randomly divided into two groups (20 patients each). All patients were preoxygenated for 4 min then anesthetized with fentanyl (1-1.5 μg/kg), propofol (2-3 mg/kg), and succinylcholine (1 mg/kg). Thereafter, they were manually ventilated before tracheal intubation using Macintosh laryngoscope «SQ»Group I«SQ» or Airtraq laryngoscope (Prodol Meditec S.A., Vizcaya, Spain) «SQ»Group II«SQ». Results In the Macintosh group, two patients needed a stylet, one patient needed a bougie, and another four patients needed to switch to Airtraq, but in the Airtraq group only one patient needed to switch to Macintosh. In addition, the degree of difficulty of intubation in the two groups according to the sum of intubation difficulty score showed that four patients in the Macintosh group had high degree of difficulty against one patient in the Airtraq group. Hence, the visualization of the larynx and endotracheal intubation was better and easier with Airtraq laryngoscope than Macintosh laryngoscope. Conclusion The use of Airtraq laryngoscope is more suitable «SQ»rapid, safe and successful«SQ» in tracheal intubation of high-risk morbidly obese patients.

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