Submitted, Not Presented: Pediatrics.

Abstract

Introduction: Choking remains a leading cause of sudden death in children. Currently the Heimlich maneuver is the only maneuver that has a chance of resuscitating the victim. Therefore we studied the Lifevac, a new apparatus that previously has been shown in simulator models to resuscitate an adult choking victim, in a pediatric simulator model. Methods: We used the Laerdel choking adolescent simulator with a standard size hot dog piece lodged one and one half inches into the simulators airway. The Lifevac was then used with the pediatric mask per operating guidelines to remove the lodged object and the success rate was recorded. Results: The Lifevac successfully removed the obstructing hot dog in 472 out of 500 attempts in one attempt, in 497 out of 500 in two attempts, and all obstructions were removed in three attempts. The 95% confidence intervals for the point estimate of the probability that the device will remove the obstruction (calling the point estimate “S”) shown for three scenarios depending on how you define success: success 1 attempt: 0.92 S 0.96, success 2 attempts: 0.98 S 1.0, success 3 attempts: 0.99 S 1.0 99% confidence intervals for the point estimate of the probability that the device will remove the obstruction (call the point estimate “S”) shown for three scenarios depending on how you define success: success 1 attempt: 0.91 S 0.97, success 2 attempts: 0.98 S 1.0, success 3 attempts: 0.99 S 1.0 Conclusion: The Lifevac is an apparatus that can successfully remove food, in this case a hot dog, lodged in a pediatric choking victims airway in this simulator model. Further investigation is urgently needed in order to potentially save lives.Figure 1Figure 2