Monday 22 October 2012

iGel supraglottic airway for resuscitation

I had mandatory training at my NHS Trust last week and got to play with quite marvellous device - the iGel supraglottic airway.

OK it probably shows how little acute medicine I do but this was a much better experience than the usual 'tooth cracking' struggle with an ET tube.

On the manikin at least it seemed quite straight forward to get a secure airway sufficient for CPR.

The device is used as an initial airway choice in resuscitation and a case series from Gloucester of 100 resuscitations gives some evidence of its effectiveness in practice [1]. This is the practice in our hospital and the anaesthetist then makes the decision on what to use for airways management when they arrive at the crash call.

I wouldn't be confident about its ability to prevent aspiration but it is clearly more useful for airway control by novices until someone experienced at endotracheal intubation arrives.


1. Larkin C, King B, D’Agapeyeff A, Gabbott D. iGel supraglottic airway use during hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Resuscitation 2012 Jun;83(6):e141. Available from: http://www.resuscitationjournal.com/article/S0300-9572(12)00124-4/fulltext

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