The Use of Video Laryngoscopy Did Not Lead to Greater First-Pass or Overall Success Rates Compared to Direct Laryngoscopy in Pediatric Intubation in a Helicopter Emergency Medical Service

Abstract

ObjectiveWe hypothesized that video laryngoscopy (VL) would significantly increase the first attempt and final success rates over direct laryngoscopy (DL) in helicopter emergency medical services. MethodsThis was a study of an emergency medical service in the Midwestern United States. Pediatric patients (age < 18 years) transported between January 1, 2010, and July 31, 2016, with an attempted intubation were identified. Demographics (age group and sex), first-pass success (FPS), and total attempts by intubation type were abstracted and compared with a historical control. ResultsFifty-five pediatric patient runs were abstracted (DL: n = 28, VL: n = 27). There were no significant differences between the DL and VL groups based on sex (DL: 54% male, VL: 70% male; P = .200) or age group (P = .239). Analyses of FPS between DL and VL showed no difference (DL: 82.1% success vs. VL: 70.4% success; P = .304). There was no difference for final success rate between DL and VL (DL: 85.7%, VL: 96.3%; P = .172). A significantly larger number of difficult airways were reported in the VL group (37.0%) compared with DL (7.1%, P = .007). ConclusionVL did not improve FPS over DL nor did it improve the final endotracheal intubation success rate over DL. The VL group had more airways reported as being difficult by the flight crew than the DL group.