Our Experience with the Technique of Flexible Intubation between 2001 and 2014

Czech version

Authors: P. Staněk
Authors‘ workplace: Klinika otorinolaryngologie a chirurgie hlavy a krku LF MU a FN u sv. Anny, Brno, přednosta prof. MUDr. R. Kostřica, CSc.
Published in: Otorinolaryngol Foniatr, 64, 2015, No. 2, pp. 102-106.
Category: Review Article

Overview

Between the years 2001 and 2014, the Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, St. Anne’s Faculty Hospital in Brno, performed, within the frame of its consultation activity, altogether 403 flexible intubations in 374 patients (220 men and 154 women). Of this number, 234 cases were acute states and in 169 situations the flexible form of intubation had been planned in advance. Altogether 13 physicians took part in the interventions in various measure and extent, and in 42 situations the classical intubation method by the anaesthesiologist was unsuccessful. The most frequent indications for flexible intubation were surgeries on the thyroid gland and large surgical interventions associated with the lower airways. These were followed by internal and neurological indications, operations from the fields of neurosurgery and orthopaedics, and interventions from the fields of dental surgery, urology, and ophthalmology. Also, otorhinolaryngological problems had specific traits and indications of their own, especially the surgical part of head and neck oncology and, last but not least, traumatic conditions in the area of the head and the cervical spine. To a lesser extent, cardiosurgical indications as well as plastic and aesthetic surgeries were also represented.

The technique of flexible intubation is an effective alternative to the classical intubation method and, moreover, with only minimal contraindications. However, it requires not only adequate technical equipment but also a specially trained team, preferably from the ranks of otorhinolaryngologists.

Keywords:
flexible intubation, endoscopy of the airways, intubation cannula

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