To Compare Mean Time Taken for Tracheal Intubation with Airtraq Versus Macintosh Laryngoscope in Elective Surgeries: A Randomised Clinical Trial

Objective: To compare mean time taken for tracheal intubation with Airtraq versus Macintosh laryngoscope in elective surgeries.

Study Design: This is a Randomized control trial (RCT) study.

Setting: Study carried out at Department of Anaesthesiology, Surgical Intensive Care Unit and Pain Management, Clinic, Dow University of Health Sciences and Dr. Ruth Pfau Hospital Karachi, from June 2016 to November 2016.

Materials and Methods: A total of 60 patients divided 30 in each group randomly i.e. Macintosh laryngoscope Group A and Airtraq laryngoscope Group B who scheduled for elective surgery and fulfill the inclusion criteria. All patients were received intravenous glycopyrolate 0.2 mg, tramadol 2 mg/kg, and midazolam 0.03 mg/kg 10 minutes before induction of anesthesia. Induction was done with propofol 2-2.5 mg/kg, minimum 3 minutes were given to maximum effect of muscle relaxant. Time taken to intubate the trachea were noted in seconds and entered into the predesigned proforma.

Results: The analysis included data on all the patients between 18 to 50 years of age who scheduled for elective surgery during the study period after applying the exclusion criteria. Mean ± SD of age in group A were 36.85±8.47 years and in group B were 37.49±9.32 years. In Gender distribution of group A 11 (36%) were male and 19 (64%) were female and in group B the distribution of male and female were 8 (27%) and 22 (73%) respectively. By comparing both the groups for time taken in tracheal intubation in seconds Mean ± SD of group A was 35±7.8 and in group B was 21±4.2 and P value found to be highly significant i.e. (0.0001).

Conclusion: It is to be concluded that Airtraq laryngoscope is more effective instrument than Macintosh Laryngoscope for use in routine airway management and duration of successful tracheal intubation was shorter in the Airtraq group.