Gear fetish

I'm in love...with my KingVision videolaryngoscope. It's somewhat of a generalism, but anaesthetists tend to be 'propellor heads' - they like to fiddle with equipment, & they are invariably seduced by things technical...you can usually tell anaesthetic doctors at a conference - they're the ones with MacBook Pros or iPads or iPhones.

But I digress. Last week was one for coincidences - the local rep sent the KingVision up for me to trial and at the same time Broome Docs posted on the issue of 'which video laryngoscope', whilst Minh Le Cong of RFDS Queensland posted a review of the device on EM-crit. Then to top it off I spent the weekend at the NSW proceduralists conference, where videolaryngoscopy was discussed and utilised both in the simulation lab and in the conference talks. I was so impressed I forked out my own cash to buy one, rather than wait for my local health unit to come to the party.

I think that VL is a game changer. Don't get me wrong, I'm diligent in developing and maintaining my direct laryngoscopy technique...but when faced with a difficult airway, the VL has potential to substantially improve the view.

We've got the C-MAC up in theatre where I am currently doing some anaesthetic upskilling. It's a great piece of kit and I think that the ability to see laryngoscopy on the screen is both reassuring for everyone, as well as accelerating the learning curve for novice intubators (they reckon that it takes at least 60 intubations to progress from 'novice').

There's also great potential to use the VL to simulate the difficult airway...given that Grade III and Grade IV Cormack-Lehane views are supposed to come along with relative infrequence (less than 1%), I reckon there's merit in using the VL to take a look at the cords, then either reposition the patient or the scope to simulate a Grade III or IV view...then utilise techniques to still intubate the trachea (BURP, bimanual manipulation, blind pass bougie, stylet etc etc). Again, this greatly advances the learning curve. 


For the 'occasional intubator' (most rural docs) the VL gives additional comfort - particularly when our decision to intubate is often forced due to imminent respiratory failure, or severe obtundation...and invariably in an un-fasted, un-optmised patient with haemodynamic instability. In a collar. Maybe at the roadside. Quite a different kettle of fish to the ASA I/II selected cases fasted for theatre on whom we practice. Of course, the big drawback is money. The C-MAC comes in at around $15K. It's not a device that is realistically affordable for Kangaroo Island or indeed other small health units in Australia.

Some doctors have opted for the AirTraq, which is not a VL as such (relies on prisms to give an optical view)...it's cheap as chips at under $90 each, but I find that peering through the viewfinder is fiddly and that one loses situational awareness. 

Hence the KingVision with it's built-in screen offers similar affordability (blades are about $30 each, the re-usable screen under $1000) and allows me to maintain situational awareness. I plan to have it to hand for anticipated difficult airways (trauma, collar, weird anatomy, failed LEMON etc)...and of course to use it now and then on routine lists to keep up skills (the technique is subtley different to DL).

Today I popped down to the local hobby store and haggled for a 12 inch TFT monitor with mounts for IV pole...then I've hooked up to the KingVision via the supplied composite-out video cable...so now I've got a system that allows big screen playback and recording, for a fraction of the cost of a C-MAC. Great for teaching. 

Bloody brilliant.

If you haven't already, take a look at the KingVision. For the price, it does exactly what is says on the box. Given that tertiary centres insist on having some sort of backup device for the difficult airway, I think that it's now indefensible for smaller hospitals not to have kit that does the same job.

[Please note that I am not affiliated with KingVision and that the model I purchased was with own cash at retail prices]