Prehospital airway management for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest

摘要

To the Editor: Dr Hasegawa and colleagues studied different approaches to prehospital airway management (endo-tracheal intubation, supraglottic airway devices, and bag-valve-mask ventilation) in patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) in a Japanese cohort. The conclusion of the authors is in contrast to other evidence. First, several studies have shown poor success rates of about 80% for prehospital endotracheal intubation performed by paramedics, but Hasegawa et al did not report the success rates of either endotracheal intubation or supraglottic airway devices in their cohort, or the incidence of undetected esophageal intubation or supraglottic airway device displacement.