A new mirrored laryngoscope

✍ Scribed by R. C. N. McMorrow; R. K. Mirakhur

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 98 KB
• Volume: 58
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0003-2409
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2044.2003.03343.x

✦ Synopsis

Summary

A new laryngoscope has been designed, incorporating an adjustable mirror and a levered tip similar to the McCoy blade, in an attempt to bridge the gulf between simple direct laryngoscopy and fiberoptic laryngoscopy. Manual in‐line neck stabilisation was used to simulate difficult laryngoscopy in 14 anaesthetised patients after full neuromuscular blockade. The best view at laryngoscopy was assessed using a standard Macintosh laryngsocope, a size 3 McCoy laryngoscope and the mirrored laryngoscope. The best laryngeal view obtained in all cases with the Macintosh blade was a grade 3. The mirrored laryngoscope improved this view in 10 cases (71%) compared with five cases (36%) with the McCoy laryngoscope (p = 0.005); in seven cases (50%), the view improved to a grade 1 compared with no cases when the McCoy was used (p = 0.02). We conclude that the mirrored laryngoscope offers considerable advantages over the Macintosh and the McCoy laryngoscopes in simulated difficult laryngoscopy, is simple to use and requires no special training.