My friend and former resident, performs a life-saving cricothyrotomy on a post-arrest patient.
Filmed by Reuben Strayer, MD and used with patient consent.
For more on Surgical Airway, come to the EMCrit Cricothyrotomy Page
Article on Arch-Bar Separation
Update
We discussed this case extensively in Podcast 148 on Airway Decision-making
See the Video
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Editor-in-Chief, at EMCrit.org
An ED Intensivist from NY.
Professor
Nassau University Medical Center
No conflicts of interest (coi).
Professor
Nassau University Medical Center
No conflicts of interest (coi).
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Great job with this! This is by far the best video of a real cricothyrotomy I have seen. Paramedics in NH will begin utilizing the bougie assisted surgical cricothyrotomy this year.
Andrew Merelman, Critical Care Paramedic, Exeter Hospital
Any thought of Nasal Tracheal Intubation in this case?
I would not think nasotracheal is a great way to go in this patient as epistaxis would be a disaster. That would apply to fiberoptic and blind NT.
Kudos!
That others may learn, so that others may live.
This video will save lives
Thank you for a great and timely post with insightful commentary. Thanks also to Ram Parekh and Reuben Strayer (and the patient) for making this available. This case not only makes for great teaching and discussion but it really exemplifies the power of #FOAMed. As a critical care fellow, many of us will graduate without having performed this procedure and many consultants can go through their careers not having performed one, and hence not being able to comment on it from first-hand experience. I saw Scott’s talk on this topic from SMACC, followed it by reading around the topic and… Read more »
Thanks to all involved – especially the patient – for a great educational resource.
Hats off,
Chris
I am closing comments on this post as there have been many comments from Monday morning QBs. To respond to most of these comments: 1. NT is a bad idea in a patient with a wired jaw in a non-elective situation. If he starts bleeding, it is a bad scene. 2. This patient is meta-stable, not stable. This was emergent airway management. The patient had already had multiple codes and was having runs of v. tach while the procedure was performed. This was the most rapid and appropriate means of controlling the airway. 3. The NAP4 study is worth a… Read more »