Development and performance testing of the low-cost, 3D-printed, smartphone-compatible ‘Tansen Videolaryngoscope’ vs. Pentax-AWS videolaryngoscope vs. direct Macintosh laryngoscope: A manikin study

BACKGROUND While videolaryngoscopes help in the management of difficult airways, they remain too expensive for those with limited resources. We have developed a robust, re-usable, low-cost videolaryngoscope at United Mission Hospital Tansen, Nepal, by combining a smartphone-compatible endoscope capable of capturing still and video images with a three dimensional-printed, channelled, hyperangulated blade. The computer-aided design file for the videolaryngoscope blade was emailed and printed in London before evaluation of its performance on a difficult airway manikin. OBJECTIVE To benchmark the intubation performance of the Tansen Videolaryngoscope (TVL) in a ‘difficult airway’ manikin (SimMan3G, tongue fully inflated, neck stiff), against a commercially available videolaryngoscope and a conventional Macintosh laryngoscope. DESIGN A manikin study. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS Forty-three experienced videolaryngoscope users in two London teaching hospitals. INTERVENTION AND OUTCOME Primary outcome: Intubation success rate. Secondary outcomes: grade of laryngeal view, median time to intubation and intubator-rated ‘ease of use’. RESULTS Our device was equivalent to Pentax-AWS and superior to Macintosh laryngoscope (TVL vs. Pentax-AWS vs. Macintosh) in overall intubation success rate (88 vs. 98 vs. 67%, P 
Source: European Journal of Anaesthesiology - Category: Anesthesiology Tags: Airway Source Type: research