Studies Underway to Evaluate the Use of Supraglottic Airways vs. Intubation in Cardiac Arrest Patients

Supraglottic vs. Intubation Taylor J, Black S, Brett SJ, et al. Design and implementation of the AIRWAYS-2 trial. A multi-centre cluster randomised controlled trial of the clinical and cost effectiveness of the i-gel supraglottic airway device versus tracheal intubation in the initial airway management of out of hospital cardiac arrest.Resuscitation. 2016;109:25–32. As the debates about endotracheal intubation (ETI) continue in EMS crew quarters and medical director offices, South Western Ambulance Service National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust in Exeter, England, is taking the lead on a multicenter randomized controlled trial comparing the use of the i-gel supraglottic airway (SGA) device to ETI in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Background: Current data show a 7–9% survival-to-discharge rate for out-of-hospital cardiac arrests. Researching cardiac arrest care is a complex endeavor. The causes and survival of arrests are multifactorial, the care provided is difficult to track accurately, and randomizing as well as obtaining patient consent can challenge even experienced researchers. The AIRWAYS-2 trial is underway to compare the use of i-gel SGA vs. ETI and this study outlines the trial’s design. Researchers obtained ethics approval in September 2014 and starting collecting data in June 2015. They hope to enroll more than 9,000 cardiac arrest patients treated by 1,300 paramedics from four different ambulance services by July 2017 to complete the study. Methods...
Source: JEMS Patient Care - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Airway & Respiratory Columns Patient Care Source Type: news