Video-laryngoscopy introduction in a Sub-Saharan national teaching hospital: luxury or necessity?

• Published in: The Pan African medical journal Vol. 22; no. 381; p. 381
• Main Authors: Alain, Traoré Ibrahim, Drissa, Barro Sié, Flavien, Kaboré, Serge, Ilboudo, Idriss, Traoré
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Uganda African Field Epidemiology Network 2015; The African Field Epidemiology Network; The Pan African Medical Journal
• Subjects: Adolescent; Africa South of the Sahara; Burkina Faso; Case Report; difficult tracheal intubation; Glottis; Hospitals, Teaching; Humans; Intubation, Intratracheal - instrumentation; Intubation, Intratracheal - methods; Laryngoscopes; Laryngoscopy; Laryngoscopy - instrumentation; Laryngoscopy - methods; Male; Middle Aged; sub-saharan teaching hospital; Video-Assisted Surgery - methods; video-laryngoscopy; sub-saharan teaching hospital; Video-laryngoscopy; difficult tracheal intubation
• ISSN: 1937-8688; 1937-8688
• DOI: 10.11604/PAMJ.2015.22.381.8175

Tracheal intubation using Macintosh blade is the technique of choice for the liberation of airways. It can turn out to be difficult, causing severe complications which can entail the prognosis for survival or the adjournment of the surgical operation. The video-laryngoscope allows a better display of the larynx and a good exposure of the glottis and then making tracheal intubation simpler compared with a conventional laryngoscope. It is little spread in sub-Saharan Africa and more particularly in Burkina Faso because of its high cost. We report our first experiences of use of the video-laryngoscope through two cases of difficult tracheal intubation which had required the adjournment of the interventions. It results that the video-laryngoscope makes tracheal intubation easier even in it's the first use because of the good glottal display which it gives and because its allows apprenticeship easy. Therefore, it is not a luxury to have it in our therapeutic arsenal.