Prehospital Airway Management in Adults: Is Intubation the Best Strategy?

In a retrospective registry review of adults with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, outcomes were better with no advanced airway placement.

Prehospital endotracheal intubation is performed for adult patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in most U.S. emergency medical systems (EMS), but does it improve outcomes compared with bag-valve-mask (BVM) ventilation or placement of a supraglottic airway? To find out, researchers analyzed one year of data from the Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES), which includes data from over 400 community EMS agencies and 10 state-based databanks across the U.S.

Of nearly 11,000 patients, 52% were intubated, 29% received supraglottic airways, and 18% were managed with BVM ventilation. Neurologically intact survival was higher in the BVM group (18.6%) than the supraglottic airway or intubation groups (5.4% and 5.2%, respectively)…

Reviewing Author

Kristi L. Koenig, MD, FACEP, FIFEM

Disclosures

Editorial boardsKoenig & Schultz's Disaster Medicine: Comprehensive Principles and Practices

Kristi L. Koenig, MD, FACEP, FIFEM

Disclosures

Editorial boardsKoenig & Schultz's Disaster Medicine: Comprehensive Principles and Practices

Prehospital Airway Management in Adults: Is Intubation the Best Strategy?

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Reviewing Author