Use of the Ambu(®) aScope™ in 10 patients with predicted difficult intubation.

Abstract

Fibreoptic intubation is the gold standard for patients with predicted difficult intubation. The Ambu(®) aScope™ is a single-use device for fibreoptic tracheal intubation. We assessed its performance in 10 patients with predicted difficult tracheal intubation. The procedure was easy and successful in nine patients. However, the limited time of use did not permit intubation in one patient who required three attempts with different size tracheal tubes. The limited image resolution that can be expected of a single-use fibreoptic system and the absence of a suction channel are other potential limitations. On the other hand, being single-use this device has the advantage of avoiding the risk of infectious disease transmission and is always ready to use.