title: The Easytube for airway management in prehospital emergency medicine.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Securing the airway in emergency is among the key requirements of appropriate prehospital therapy. The Easytube (Ezt) is a relatively new device, which combines the advantages of both an infraglottic and supraglottic airway.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Our goal was to evaluate the effectiveness and the safety of use of Ezt by emergency physicians in case of difficult airway management in a prehospital setting with minimal training.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a prospective multi-centre observational study of patients requiring airway management conducted in prehospital emergency medicine in France by 3 French mobile intensive care units from October 2007 to October 2008.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Data were available for 239 patients who needed airway management. Two groups were individualized: the "easy airway management" group (225 patients; 94%) and the "difficult airway management" group (14 patients; 6%). All patients had a successful airway management. The Ezt was used in eight men and six women; mean age was 64 years. It was used for ventilation for a maximum of 150 min and the mean time was 65 min. It was positioned successfully at first attempt, except for two patients, one needed an adjustment because of an air leak, and in the other patient the Ezt was replaced due to complete obstruction of the Ezt during bronchial suction.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study shows that emergency physicians in cases of difficult airway management can use the EzT safely and effectively with minimal training. Because of its very high success rate in ventilation, the possibility of blind intubation, the low failure rate after a short training period. It could be introduced in new guidelines to manage difficult airway in prehospital emergency.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine and Intensive Care, Timone University Hospital, Marseille, France. chenaitiahichem@hotmail.fr
authors.forename: Hichem
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chenaitia
authors.forename: Valéry
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Soulleihet
authors.forename: Horace
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Massa
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bessereau
authors.forename: Jeremy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bourenne
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Michelet
authors.forename: Jean-Pierre
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Auffray
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007442:Intubation, Intratracheal / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012121:Respiration, Artificial / Q000295:instrumentation*; D016896:Treatment Outcome