Which videolaryngoscope do you have?                                                    

Videolaryngoscopy in the last few years has come a long way. There have been many toys along the way and all sorts of "airway saviours" but until recently none have defined the process.

Two contenders have drifted to the top, the STORZ Cmac and the Glidescope AVL reuseable and Direct Intubation trainer.

Review of the equipment

The STORZ equipment, whilst historically lagging somewhat on the Glidescope, set the benchmark with the Cmac. This was quickly followed by models of the Glidescope with similar features.

Glidescope started with its various other iterations with disposable hand sets and introducers but for me in the current environment a standard handle which allows for a pretty bullet proof “best view” is always going to be my first choice.

With the Cmac and the Glidescope, both AVL reuseable and  DLT, the handles feel similar to the standard Macintosh, you can have a look without the video if you wish so as not to “deskill”  and indeed intubate as you normally would. If you can’t get a view simply turn around and look at the screen and there you go.  Everything remains the same except your laryngoscope handle has a cable to a screen.

Pretty much any airway becomes a grade 1-2 view, these "toys" are intuitive to use, easy to educate new users, works down to whatever blade size you have, if you don't have one try one at someones else's place.

The Glidescope AVL disposable  system is fine and works very well, it just has several components and is a different look and feel and slightly more paint by numbers with the potential to deskill when you work in a place that doesn’t have one. 

Use these in trauma (collared patients) with bougie when things are really bad, and even in an awake patient as a for removal of suprglottic FBs, spray the throat, get the patient to manipulate as far as they feel comfortable and pull out the fishbone.

Resources

There is a review in EPmonthly which is thorough but be aware that it was probably written before the most recent model of the Glidescope.

This article studied the use of the two prehospitally.

Glidescope

This is a succinct video on use, which demonstrates use of the glidescope. 

An academic view of Glidescope (disposable) is available here.

Product info for glidescopes is available for both the AVL and Direct Intubation Trainer.

STORZ Cmac  

This is a Youtube video which demonstrates use of the Cmac. 

An Anaesthetist's view of the Cmac is available here.