Emergency medicine

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation

Laryngoscopes

Resuscitation

Larynx

Surgery

Personal protective equipment

Anesthesia

Laryngoscopy

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Intubation

Airway management

Endotracheal intubation

Infectious disease (medical specialty)

Emergency medical services

Internal medicine

Clinical endpoint

Confidence interval

Odds ratio

Medicine

Disease

Glottis

Tracheal intubation

Randomized controlled trial

The American Journal of Emergency Medicine

Endotracheal intubation (ETI) is still the gold standard of airway management, but in cases of sudden cardiac arrest in patients with suspected SARS-CoV-2 infection, ETI is associated with risks for both the patient and the medical personnel. We hypothesized that the Vie Scope® is more useful for endotracheal intubation of suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cardiac arrest patients than the conventional laryngoscope with Macintosh blade when operators are wearing personal protective equipment (PPE). Study was designed as a prospective, multicenter, randomized clinical trial performed by Emergency Medical Services in Poland. Patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis who needed cardiopulmonary resuscitation in prehospital setting were included. Patients under 18 years old or with criteria predictive of impossible intubation under direct laryngoscopy, were excluded. Patients were randomly allocated 1:1 to Vie Scope® versus direct laryngoscopy with a Macintosh blade. Study groups were compared on success of intubation attempts, time to intubation, glottis visualization and number of optimization maneuvers. We enrolled 90 out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients, aged 43–92 years. Compared to the VieScope® laryngoscope, use of the Macintosh laryngoscope required longer times for tracheal intubation with an estimated mean difference of −48 s (95%CI confidence interval [CI], −60.23, −35.77; p < 0.001). Moreover VieScope® improved first attempt success rate, 93.3% vs. 51.1% respectively (odds ratio [OR] = 13.39; 95%CI: 3.62, 49.58; p < 0.001). The use of the Vie Scope® laryngoscope in OHCA patients improved the first attempt success rate, and reduced intubation time compared to Macintosh laryngoscope in paramedics wearing PPE for against aerosol generating procedures. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials registration number NCT04365608

Comparison of Vie Scope® and Macintosh laryngoscopes for intubation during resuscitation by paramedics wearing personal protective equipment