Emergency Cricothyrotomy Performed by Surgical Airway-naive Medical Personnel: A Randomized Crossover Study in Cadavers Comparing Three Commonly Used Techniques.

BACKGROUND: When conventional approaches to obtain effective ventilation and return of effective spontaneous breathing fail, surgical airway is the last rescue option. Most physicians have a limited lifetime experience with cricothyrotomy, and it is unclear what method should be taught for this lifesaving procedure. The aim of this study is to compare the performance of medical personnel, naive to surgical airway techniques, in establishing an emergency surgical airway in cadavers using three commonly used cricothyrotomy techniques. METHODS: Twenty medical students, without previous knowledge of surgical airway techniques, were randomly selected from their class. After training, they performed cricothyrotomy by three techniques (surgical, Melker, and QuickTrach II) in a random order on 60 cadavers with comparable biometrics. The time to complete the procedure, rate of success, and number of complications were recorded. A success was defined as the correct placement of the cannula within the trachea in 3 min. RESULTS: The success rates were 95, 55, and 50% for surgical cricothyrotomy, QuickTrach, and Melker, respectively (P = 0.025). The majority of failures were due to cannula misplacement (15 of 20). In successful procedures, the mean procedure time was 94 ± 35 s in the surgical group, 77 ± 34 in the QuickTrach II group, and 149 ± 24 in the Melker group (P < 0.001). Few significant complications were found in successful procedures. No cadaver biometric parameters were correlated with success of the procedure. CONCLUSION: Surgical airway-naive medical personnel establish emergency cricothyrotomy more efficiently and safely with the surgical procedure than with the other two commonly used techniques.

[Airways access in cannot intubate situation : cricothyrotomy]. / Ouverture des voies aériennes en cas d'intubation impossible : la cricothyrotomie ou coniotomie.

In case of impossible intubation /oxygenation because of an upper airways obstruction, a cricothyrotomy is indicated. It is a relative simple and safe procedure that may be life saving. A blade, a tube and one's index finger are the only tools needed. The procedure can be done anywhere and every physician should be able to perform it. Several devices have been developed to try to improve it's success rate ; on the contrary, they render the task more complicated and lead to double failure rates with associated lesions, as described in our comparative study. The aim of this article is to recall the technique and make doctors that are not familiar with the use of a knife feel more confident. We emphasize on the use of a finger (index) to facilitate the procedure.

En cas d'intubation ou d'oxygénation impossible suite à une obstruction haute des voies aériennes, une cricothyrotomie est indiquée, appelée aussi « coniotomie ¼. C'est une procédure relativement simple et sûre, qui peut sauver la vie et ne nécessite qu'une lame, un tuyau et son doigt. Elle peut donc être réalisée n'importe où. Tout médecin devrait être capable de la réaliser. Des dispositifs ingénieux ont été inventés pour tenter d'en améliorer le taux de succès ; au contraire, ils compliquent la tâche et engendrent un taux d'échecs double avec des lésions associées, comme décrit dans notre étude comparative. Le but de cet article est de rappeler la technique de la coniotomie et mettre en confiance les médecins qui ne seraient pas familiers avec l'usage d'un bistouri. Nous recommandons l'utilisation d'un doigt, l'index, pour faciliter la procédure.

Gustatory dysfunction after mandibular zoster.

Varicella zoster, limited to the mandibular nerve, is rare. Classical symptoms are pain, hypesthesia and vesicular eruption restricted to the third trigeminal segment (V3). Little is known on taste affection after mandibular nerve zoster. We report two cases of patients suffering from mandibular zoster associated with subjective taste disorder. In both cases, gustatory measures confirmed ipsilateral hemiageusia of the anterior two-thirds of the tongue. After 2 months, the symptoms regressed and psychophysical measures came back to normal values, whereas post-zoster neuralgia lasted for more than 1 year. Gustatory dysfunction is a possible symptom after mandibular nerve zoster. In contrast to post-zoster neuralgia, taste function seems to recover quickly.

Screening for staphylococcal superantigen genes shows no correlation with the presence or the severity of chronic rhinosinusitis and nasal polyposis.

BACKGROUND: Staphylococcus aureus secretes numerous exotoxins which may exhibit superantigenic properties. Whereas the virulence of several of them is well documented, their exact biological effects are not fully understood. Exotoxins may influence the immune and inflammatory state of various organs, including the sinonasal mucosa: their possible involvement in chronic rhinosinusitis has been suggested and is one of the main trends in current research. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the presence of any of the 22 currently known staphylococcal exotoxin genes could be correlated with chronic rhinosinusitis. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We conducted a prospective, multi-centred European study, analysing 93 Staphylococcus aureus positive swabs taken from the middle meatus of patients suffering from chronic rhinosinusitis, with or without nasal polyposis, and controls. Strains were systematically tested for the presence of the 22 currently known exotoxin genes and genotyped according to their agr groups. No direct correlation was observed between chronic rhinosinusitis, with or without nasal polyposis, and either agr groups or the presence of the most studied exotoxins genes (egc, sea, seb, pvl, exfoliatins or tsst-1). However, genes for enterotoxins P and Q were frequently observed in nasal polyposis for the first time, but absent in the control group. The number of exotoxin genes detected was not statistically different among the 3 patient groups. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Unlike many previous studies have been suggesting, we did not find any evident correlation between staphylococcal exotoxin genes and the presence or severity of chronic rhinosinusitis with or without nasal polyposis.