title: The use of the GlideScope® for tracheal intubation in patients with halo vest.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  GlideScope® provides better laryngoscopic view and is advantageous in tracheal intubation in ankylosing spondylitis patients with difficult airway.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was performed to investigate the use of the GlideScope® for tracheal intubation in 15 patients wearing halo vests scheduled for elective surgery under general anesthesia. Preoperative airway assessments were evaluated to predict the difficulty of tracheal intubation. Before intubation, all patients were given a modified Cormack and Lehane (MCLS) grade and percentage of glottic opening (POGO) score by the intubating anesthesiologist having resorted to direct laryngoscopy (DL) with a Macintosh Size 3 blade depiction. Then intubation with the GlideScope® was performed, during which the larynx was inspected and given another MCLS grade and POGO score.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fourteen of the 15 patients had MCLS Grade III or IV by direct Macintosh laryngoscopy and were considered to have a difficult laryngoscopy. Nasal tracheal intubation by the GlideScope® was successful on all occasions. The GlideScope® improved the MCLS grade and POGO score in all patients who had put on a halo vest as compared with those on DL (p<0.01). The GlideScope® also provided a better laryngoscopic view than that by a DL. All of the patients who wore halo vests and presented with suspected difficult airways could be intubated successfully with the GlideScope®.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The use of the GlideScope® for tracheal intubation could be an alternative option in patients with a difficult airway, whose surgery was circumscribed under general anesthesia with tracheal intubation.
authors: Department of Anesthesiology, Buddhist Tzu-Chi General Hospital, No. 44 Min-chuan Road, Hualien, Taiwan, R.O.C.
authors: Shen-Jer
authors: SJ
authors: Huang
authors: Chia-Lin
authors: CL
authors: Lee
authors: Po-Kai
authors: PK
authors: Wang
authors: Pei-Chin
authors: PC
authors: Lin
authors: Hsien-Yong
authors: HY
authors: Lai
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007442:Intubation, Intratracheal / Q000295:instrumentation*; D020704:Laryngoscopes; D007828:Laryngoscopy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009989:Orthotic Devices