Skip to content

Airway Injuries After Intubation Using Videolaryngoscopy Versus Direct Laryngoscopy for Adult Patients Requiring Tracheal Intubation

Airway Injuries After Intubation Using Videolaryngoscopy Highly Curved Blades Versus Direct Laryngoscopy for Adult Patients Requiring Tracheal Intubation: a Randomized Controlled Trial

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT03613103
Enrollment
716
Registered
2018-08-02
Start date
2018-10-01
Completion date
2023-12-01
Last updated
2023-12-20

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Airway Trauma, Airway Complication of Anesthesia

Keywords

video laryngoscopy, airway, injury, direct laryngoscopy, intubation, endotracheal

Brief summary

Abstract Background Successful tracheal intubation during general anesthesia requires a direct laryngoscope to retract the tongue and soft tissues of the mouth to achieve a line of sight for the larynx. Generally, Macintosh blade laryngoscopy is used to achieve the tracheal intubation. However, difficulties with the tracheal intubation arise the need to use alternative laryngoscopes that use digital or fiberoptic technology, to improve the larynx visibility. Among these devices, highly curved blade videolaryngoscope uses a curved blade to retract the soft tissues of floor of the mouth and transmits a video image to a screen, achieving better larynx visibility. Also, the decrease of the force in the soft tissues with videolaryngoscope could reduce airway injures. Objectives Our primary objective is to assess whether use of videolaryngoscopy using highly curved blades for tracheal intubation in adults requiring general anesthesia reduces risk of airways injuries compared with Macintosh direct laryngoscopy. Our secondary aim is to assess postoperative satisfaction of the patients, successful intubation at the first attempt, successful global intubation, degree of larynx visibility according to classification Cormack - Lehane and time taken to perform intubation in videolaryngoscopy vs direct laryngoscopy. Finally, we assess the risk of presenting serious adverse event with the use of videolaryngoscopy compared with Macintosh laryngoscopy in hypoxemia, bradycardia and heart arrest.

Interventions

Intubation with videolaryngoscopy with highly curved blade

DEVICEDirect laryngoscopy

Intubation with direct laryngoscopy with macintosh blade

Sponsors

IPS Universitaria-Universidad de Antioquia
CollaboratorUNKNOWN
Universidad de Antioquia
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
TRIPLE (Subject, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)

Masking description

Participants will be assigned at the time of anesthetic induction in the surgery room. The allocation to the direct laryngoscopy group and the video laryngoscopy will be 1: 1 randomly using permuted blocks, generated by a computer operated by an external assistant to the investigation. The size of the blocks will be between 4, 6, and 8. A person external to the research group will be responsible for concealment of allocation through opaque and sealed envelopes, listed sequentially.

Intervention model description

A single-center randomized study is performed including non-cardiac surgical patients without predictable risk of difficult mask ventilation or of difficult tracheal intubation. For direct laryngoscopy group, we use a Macintosh blade and for videolaryngoscopy group we use videolaryngoscopy highly curved blade. Induction of anesthesia is performed using myorelaxation with rocuronium. We record each five minute the vital signs in the anesthesia record. The primary outcome is observed injuries in the mucosa of the airway: Erythema, edema, ecchymosis, laceration, excoriation and / or hematoma. Injuries to dental pieces: Partial and / or total loss of tooth integrity, loosening of dental piece, damage to dental and / or aesthetic prosthetic material. Laryngeal lesions: Edema, laceration, excoriation, erythema, ecchymosis and / or bleeding pharyngeal laryngeal mucosa, arytenoid luxation. Post-intubation symptoms: Sore throat, dysphonia and / or aphonia.

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Over 18 years of age. * Scheduled for a procedure or surgery that requires general anesthesia that requires orotracheal intubation. * Scheduled for non-cardiac surgery. * Elective surgery.

Exclusion criteria

* Women in pregnancy. * Patient refuses to participate in the study before surgery. * Patients with predictors of anticipated difficult airway. * Head and neck surgery. * Go to Intensive Care Unit with endotracheal intubation.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Number of patients with an airway injury24 hoursAirway injury will be a composite outcome as follow: Injury in the oral cavity or injury in the laryngopharynx. These injuries will be evaluated using a digital camera of the oral cavity (fiber optical camera) in the immediate POP. A patient will be considered positive for the outcome If he/she has at least one of the following findings: Erythema, edema, ecchymosis, laceration, excoriation and / or hematoma in labial, jugal, gingival, lingual mucosa, hard and soft palate; Dental pieces injury: partial and / or total loss of the integrity of the dental piece; Larynx lesions: Edema, laceration, excoriation, erythema, ecchymosis and / or bleeding of pharyngeal laryngeal mucosa.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Successful intubation at the first attemptImmediate postoperativeNumber of patients with successful intubation at the first attempt.
Global of Successful IntubationImmediate postoperativeNumber of patients with successful intubation regardless of the attempts to achieve it.
Cormack-lehane visualizationImmediate postoperativeDegree of Cormack-lehane visualization in each patient. The degree of Cormack-Lehane visualization will be measured from I to IV in relation to the visible portion of the glottis; Grade I with total visualization and Grade IV without visualization of glottis.
Cardiac ArrestImmediate postoperativeNumber of patients presenting cardiac arrest. Cardiac arrest is defined as the presence of any malignant rhythm: Ventricular tachycardia, ventricular fibrillation, asystole or pulseless electrical activity plus loss of carotid pulse for more than 10 seconds.
Post-anesthetic satisfactionImmediate postoperativePost-anesthetic satisfaction in each patient. The Quality of Recovery scale 40 will be used to determine the degree of patient satisfaction, according to the overall and subglobal score, defined by five dimensions: patient support, comfort, emotional, physical independence and pain (includes anatomical airway site).
Hypoxemia during induction and intubationImmediate postoperativeNumber of patients with hypoxemia during induction and intubation. Hypoxaemia is defined as an oxygen saturation measured with pulse oximetry less than 92%.
Bradycardia during induction and intubationImmediate postoperativeNumber of patients with bradycardia during induction and intubation. Bradycardia is defined as a decrease in heart rate of less than 40 beats / minute.
Time to achieve orotracheal intubationImmediate postoperativeTime measured in seconds to achieve orotracheal intubation in each patient. The time interval is determined from the beginning of laryngoscopy by the anesthesiologist until the verification of tracheal intubation by capnography.

Countries

Colombia

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026