Switching breathing tubes may save more lives. A study funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute shows that when a laryngeal tube instead of an endotracheal tube is used to open and access the airway in someone who has suffered cardiac arrest, the patient is more likely to survive.
The Pragmatic Airway Resuscitation Trial, a multicenter study conducted by the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium, compared survival rates among 3,000 adults treated for cardiac arrest by paramedic crews from 27 emergency medical service (EMS) agencies. In half the cases, the EMS team used the newer laryngeal tube, and the other half used traditional endotracheal intubation.
Outcomes were significantly better in the laryngeal group: 18.3% of patients survived 3 days in the hospital compared with 15.4% of the endotracheal group. Moreover, 10.8% of the laryngeal group survived to discharge compared with 8.1% of the other group. The proportion of patients surviving with good brain function was also higher in the laryngeal group.