Price P et al. Winners of 2022 Airway Article of the Year Award

Airway Management Education Center, hosted the eleventh annual “Airway Article of the Year” award show as a live webinar on December 22, 2022.  Webinar host, Calvin Brown III, MD presented three articles as finalists.  The nominees were selected from among all the articles covered during the Airway Management Research Update webinars held in 2022.  The content and merits of each article were presented, and the winner was chosen by a vote of the on-line audience during the show.  The recorded show will be available at www.airwayworld.com/webinars and as a podcast on iTunes and most podcast services.

The 2022 Nominees

The nominees for this honor were:

• Russotto V. et al. Peri-intubation Cardiovascular Collapse in Patients Who Are Critically Ill: Insights from the INTUBE Study. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2022 Aug 15;206(4):449-458.
• Matchett G, et al. Etomidate versus ketamine for emergency endotracheal intubation: a randomized clinical trial. Intensive Care Med. 2022 Jan;48(1):78-91.
• Price P., et al. Comparing the First-Pass Success Rate of the King LTS-D and the i-gel Airway Devices in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest. 2022 Nov 1;14(11):e30987.

The 2022 Winner

The winner of the 2022 “Airway Article of the Year” is Comparing the First-Pass Success Rate of the King LTS-D and the i-gel Airway Devices in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest by Patrick Price MD, Anne Laurie, Eric Plant, Kavish Chandra MD, Tushar Pishe MD and Keith Brunt PhD.

In this study, researchers conducted a retrospective review of 2700 pre-hospital extraglottic devices placed in non-traumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients. The primary outcome sought was successful first attempt intubation, with success determined clinically by the provider who placed the device.  Attempts were split fairly evenly between the King LTS-D (1290) and the i-Gel (1390).  The study shows that providers achieved first pass success in 90% of the attempted intubations with the i-Gel, compared to 75% for the King LTS-D.  This equates to unadjusted odds of first attempt success almost 3 times higher when an i-Gel is used.

According to Dr. Brown, while there are some caveats when considering the results –it is not a randomized controlled trial, it communicates unadjusted odds, and focuses on a single region – the takeaway from this study is that the i-Gel seems to be one of the easiest EGDs to use.  High-level evidence for optimal extraglottic devices to use in out-of-hospital airway management continues to be a topic of debate, and this study makes a significant contribution to that discussion.

“When you have an odds ratio of almost 3, even though it was unadjusted, it’s probably a real finding,” says Dr. Brown.  He continues “the i-gel likely results in easier and higher first attempt success. So this study points the needle in that direction.”

The study by Dr. Price’s team struck a chord with the audience, who selected the article for this honor.  Congratulations to all involved!

The “Airway Article of the Year” award show and Quarterly Airway Management Research Update webinars can be viewed on Airway World at www.airwayworld.com/webinars.  Both are also available as podcasts on the iTunes Store (Airway World Podcasts) or wherever you listen to podcasts.  Questions about Airway World or the Quarterly Airway Management Research Updates can be sent to Dennis A. Taylor, dtaylor@theairwaysite.com.