Pilot Study on the Use of Video Laryngoscopy in Pre-hospital Settings

Management of the upper airways is an essential skill in pre-hospital medicine in order to protect the respiratory tract and optimise ventilation and oxygenation. Orotracheal intubation remains the gold standard method in this context. In France, approximately 8% of primary SMUR interventions require intubation, representing 40,000 to 50,000 procedures per year, 30 to 40% of which are performed on patients in cardiorespiratory arrest.

Despite an overall success rate of nearly 99%, 8 to 15% of intubations are considered difficult and the success rate on the first attempt is only 77.8%. Difficult intubations expose patients to significant complications, including desaturation (nearly 50% of cases), haemodynamic disorders and, more rarely, cardiopulmonary arrest (3% of cases). Pre-hospital conditions (environment, access to the patient, trauma, secretions, etc.) increase these risks. As a result, recent recommendations now consider any emergency intubation outside the operating theatre to be potentially difficult.

The introduction of video laryngoscopy represents a major technological advance. Its superiority has been demonstrated in hospital settings, particularly for difficult intubations, and it is now recommended as the first-line treatment in this context. However, unlike in the United States, where several studies suggest that it is safer and more effective than direct laryngoscopy, there are no specific recommendations or French studies concerning its use in pre-hospital medicine.

Given these factors and the lack of national data, it seems appropriate to conduct an exploratory French study to assess the place, effectiveness, benefits and constraints of video laryngoscopy in a pre-hospital setting. Investigator hypothesises that the success rate for the first attempt at intubation using video laryngoscopy will be 74%.