Talk:Laryngoscope

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[edit] There

There is a medical journal called "The Laryngoscope".

laryngoscope.com

I do not know how to make a disambiguation page....sorry.

[edit] text moved from intubation, should be edited and integrated into this article

There are many types of laryngoscope. The main categories are those for adult use and those for child use. The blade may be curved (eg the Macintosh); straight (eg Miller blade and most paediatric blades); at a 120 degree angle as in the polio blade; or with a hinged blade tip seen in the McCoy laryngoscope which is commonly used in managing difficult intubations. The handle may be short to allow use when there is limited space, commonly seen during a rapid sequence induction of an obese individual where there is less room for both cricoid pressure application and performing laryngoscopy. The fibreoptic intubating laryngoscope is also used for intubation (its other uses including examination of the airway and bronchial tree.) Fiberoptics are particularly useful when intubation is required in the presence of upper airway obstruction (eg oral abcess), tumor, angioedema, or limited neck movement. In these circumstances, the airways are carefully anaesthetised with local anaesthetic and vasoconstrictor drugs before performing awake intubation. The Magill forceps ( there are is also a Magill laryngoscope) are long and angled to allow access to the pharynx, so enabling nasogastric tube or nasotracheal tube placement and also removal of debris from the pharynx. This is a basic, minimal introduction to laryngoscopes. Other important aids to laryngoscopy include the gum elastic bougie, which may be passed through the cords and a ETT railoaded over it, and the stylet as is used in North America, although it has no advantage over the bougie.

For good summaries of this topic, see Al-Shaikh's Essentials of Anaesthetic Equipment, Fundamentals of Anaesthesia by Ted Lin, or the Difficult Airway Society website. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Kosebamse (talk • contribs) 11:31, 14 January 2007 (UTC).