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Emergency surgical cricothyroidotomy: 24 successful cases leading to a simple ‘scalpel–finger–tube’ method
Author(s) -
Paix Bruce R,
Griggs William M
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
emergency medicine australasia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.602
H-Index - 52
eISSN - 1742-6723
pISSN - 1742-6731
DOI - 10.1111/j.1742-6723.2011.01510.x
Subject(s) - medicine , surgery , airway , surgical procedures , tube (container) , general surgery , medical emergency , engineering , mechanical engineering
Surgical airway access justifiably remains the final option for managing the ‘can't intubate can't ventilate’ situation, but available techniques are often complicated and might require special equipment. This paper reports on the real world experience of two experienced Australian medical specialists with backgrounds in Anaesthesia and Aeromedical Retrieval who performed 24 surgical airways, mainly under adverse prehospital conditions, over a combined 40 years of practice. All attempts were successful, the majority through a simple open ‘scalpel–finger–tube’ method, which is described here.