Anesthesia & Clinical Research
Open Access

Abstract

Comparative Evaluation of Lightwand (Lighted Stylet) with Direct Laryngoscopy on Hemodynamic Response- A Prospective Study

Manish Jain, Subham Garg, Bhawana Rastogi, Vijendrapal Singh, Kumkum Gupta and Vaibhav Tiwari

Background:Laryngoscopy and tracheal intubation are often associated with hypertension, tachycardia, and an increase in plasma catecholamine concentrations. The present study was done to compare the hemodynamic response during tracheal intubation, guided by either Lightwand or Direct laryngoscopy.

Method and patients: Seventy adult consented patients of ASA I or II aged 18-58 years of either sex scheduled for elective surgeries from September 2011 to March 2013 were randomized according to sealed envelopes into two groups of 35 patients each. The patients of Group LWI were intubated with lighted stylet (Lightwand, GE) and patients of Group DLI were intubated using direct laryngoscope (Macintosh). Any patient with history of systemic hypertension and cardiopulmonary disease, hepatic, renal or endocrine disorder, difficult airway or MP Grade III & IV, history of previous difficult tracheal intubation or patient who required more than 30 seconds or more than one attempt for intubation were excluded. The anesthetic induction technique was standardized. The hemodynamic parameters of heart rate, blood pressure and ECG were recorded, at baseline, after induction, after tracheal intubation and then at regular interval of 1 min for 5 min after tracheal intubation. Intubation time was noted by stopwatch.

Results: There was no significant difference in demographic profile, in terms of changes in blood pressure and heart rate during laryngoscopy and after tracheal intubation between groups. Post intubation dysphasia, hoarseness, sore throat were also comparable between the groups.

Conclusion: The effects of Lightwand technique on hemodynamic response to tracheal intubation were similar to those of direct laryngoscopy.