Clinical assessment of awake endotracheal intubation using the lightwand technique alone in patients with difficult airways

• Published in: Chinese medical journal Vol. 122; no. 4; pp. 408 - 415
• Main Authors: Xue, Fu-shan, He, Nong, Liao, Xu, Xu, Xiu-Zheng, Xu, Ya-chao, Yang, Quan-yong, Luo, Mao-ping, Zhang, Yan-ming
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: China Department of Anesthesiology, Plastic Surgery Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100144, China%Department of Anesthesiology, Peking University Shougang Hospital, Beijing 100144, China 20.02.2009
• Subjects: Adult; Airway Obstruction; Anesthetics, Local - administration & dosage; Conscious Sedation; Humans; Intubation, Intratracheal - adverse effects; Intubation, Intratracheal - instrumentation; Intubation, Intratracheal - methods; Lidocaine - administration & dosage; Middle Aged; Prospective Studies; Wakefulness; Young Adult; 临床评价; 前瞻性临床研究; 呼吸道并发症; 心血管变化; 气管插管条件; 清醒气管插管; 航空公司; 评估系统; airway topical anesthesia; lightwand technique; awake endotracheal intubation; difficult airways
• ISSN: 0366-6999; 2542-5641
• DOI: 10.3760/cma.j.issn.0366-6999.2009.04.0010

Background There is few study to determine whether the use of the lightwand technique alone could achieve effective, safe and successful awake endotracheal intubation （ETI）, therefore we designed a prospective clinical study to systematically evaluate the feasibility, safety and efficacy of awake ETI using the lightwand alone in patients with difficult airways. Methods Seventy adult patients with difficult airways were enrolled in this study. After the desired sedation with fentanyl and midazolam, airway topical anesthesia was performed with 9 ml of 2% lidocaine, which were in order sprayed in three aliquots at 5 minutes intervals into the supraglottic （two doses） and laryngotracheal areas （one dose） using a combined unit of the lightwand and MADgic atomizer. After airway topical anesthesia, awake ETI was performed using a Lightwand. Subjective assessments by patients and operators using the visual analogue scores （VAS）, and objective assessments by an independent investigator using patients＇ tolerance and reaction scores, coughing severity, intubating conditions and cardiovascular variables were taken as the observed parameters. Results Of 210 airway sprays, 197 （93.8%） were successfully completed on the first attempt. The total time for airway spray was （14.6±1.5） minutes. During airway topical anesthesia, the average patients＇ tolerance scores were 1.7-2.3. After airway topical anesthesia, the mean VAS for discomfort levels that the patients reported was 6.5. Also airway topical anesthesia procedure was rated as acceptable and no discomfort by 94.3% of patients. The lightwand-guided awake ETI was successfully completed on first attempt within 29 seconds in all patients. During awake ETI, patients＇ reaction and coughing scores were 1.9 and 1.6, respectively. All patients exhibited excellent or acceptable intubating conditions. Cardiovascular monitoring revealed that changes of systolic blood pressure and heart rate at each stage of airway manipulations were less than 20% of baseline values. The postoperative follow-up showed that 95.7% of patients had no recall or slight memories of all airway instrumentation. The incidence of postoperative mild airway complications was 38.6%. Conclusion Alone use of the lightwand technique can achieve effective, safe and successful awake ETI in patients with difficult airways.