title: Airtraq laryngoscope: a solution for difficult laryngeal exposure in phonomicrosurgery.
abstract: CONCLUSIONS
  Airtraq®laryngoscope can obviously improve laryngeal visualization and may provide a useful solution to treatment of patients with difficult laryngeal exposure (DLE) under a conventional suspension laryngoscope in phonomicrosurgery.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  In phonomicrosurgery, otolaryngologists may inevitably encounter DLE. Attempts to improve laryngeal exposure have yielded important advances, but the prevalence of DLE yet remains persistent. To overcome this problem, this study applied the Airtraq®laryngoscope to perform phonomicrosurgery combined with a video system. The aim of this study is, thus, to explore the clinical usefulness of the Airtraq®laryngoscope in patients with DLE.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred and fifty-eight cases who underwent phonomicrosurgery for benign lesions of vocal cord at this hospital were enrolled in this study, of which nine patients were confirmed to be DLE under direct suspension laryngoscope. These nine patients were treated by Airtraq®laryngoscope together with a video system.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In comparison with the traditional suspension laryngoscope, exposure of larynx was remarkably improved by Airtraq®laryngoscope. Under the excellent laryngeal visualization provided by Airtraq®, phonomicrosurgery was successfully accomplished for vocal fold lesions without any severe complications in all cases with DLE.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery , Peking University Third Hospital , Beijing , PR China.
authors.forename: Lijuan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: b Department of Anaesthesiology , Peking University Third Hospital , Beijing , PR China.
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: a Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery , Peking University Third Hospital , Beijing , PR China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: a Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery , Peking University Third Hospital , Beijing , PR China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: a Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery , Peking University Third Hospital , Beijing , PR China.
authors.forename: Furong
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: a Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery , Peking University Third Hospital , Beijing , PR China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020704:Laryngoscopes; D008297:Male; D008866:Microsurgery / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008875:Middle Aged; D014827:Vocal Cords / Q000601:surgery*
keywords: Laryngoscope; difficult laryngeal exposure; endolaryngeal microsurgery