Effectiveness of Lightwand (Trachlight) Intubation by tst Year Anesthesia Residents

SOMCHAI AMORNYOTIN, M.D.*, VIMOLLUCK SANANSILP, M.D.*, VARARAT AMORNTIEN,M.D.*, PARICHAT TIRAWAT,M.D.*

Affiliation : * Department of Anesthesiology, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10700, Thailand.

AbstractTransillumination of the soft tissue of the neck using a lighted stylet (lightwand) is an effective and safe intubating technique in experienced hands. The goal of this study was to deter mine the effectiveness and safety of this device in intubating the trachea of elective surgical patients by non-experienced hands. One hundred and fifty, paralysed, anesthetized, adult patients (ASA 1-11, no known or potential problems with intubation) were studied. Failure to intubate was defined as lack of successful intubation after three attempts. The duration of each attempt was recorded as the time from insertion of the device into the oropharynx to the time of its removal. The total time to intubation (TTl) was defined as the sum of the durations of all (as many as three) intubation attempts. Complications, such as mucosal bleeding, lacerations, dental injury and sore throat were recorded. The mean TTl was 42.0 ± 34.3 seconds. The overall intubation success r!lte was 92 per cent. Of all the successful intubations, 87.68 per cent were successful after one attempt. There were significantly fewer traumatic events (5.33%). Most of the trauma consisted of minor mucosal bleed ing or mucosal laceration. We conclude that lightwand intubation is an effective and safe technique in non-experienced hands.

Keywords : Lightwand (Trachlight), Intubation, Anesthesia Resident

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