Abstract Background:

Endotracheal intubation (ETI), which is the gold standard in coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), may cause myocardial ischaemia by disturbing the balance between haemodynamic changes and oxygen supply and consumption of the myocardium as a result of sympathetic stimulation. In this study, we aimed to compare two different videolaryngoscopes (C-MAC and Airtraq) in the hemodynamic response to ETI.

Methods:

Fifty ASA II-III CABG surgery patients were randomly assigned to C-MAC or Airtraq. The hemodynamic data included arterial blood pressure [systolic (SAP), diastolic (DAP) and mean (MAP)] and heart rate (HR) and were recorded at six different points in time: before laryngoscopy-T1, during laryngoscopy-T2, immediately after intubation-T3, and 3 (T4), 5 (T5) and 10 (T6) minutes after intubation. Intraoperative complications were recorded. Patients were questioned about postoperative complications 2 and 24hours following extubation.

Results:

The hemodynamic response to ETI was significantly greater with C-MAC. The increase in HR started with the laryngoscopy procedure, whereas increases in SAP, DAP, and MAP started immediately after ETI (p = 0.024; p = 0.012; p = 0.030; p = 0.009, respectively). In group analyses, T1-T2, T2-T3 and T1-T3 comparisons did not show any significant differences in HR with Airtraq. However, with C-MAC, HR after intubation increased significantly compared to the pre-laryngoscopy values (T1-T3) (p = 0.004). The duration of laryngoscopy was significantly reduced with C-MAC (p < 0.001), but the duration of intubation and total intubation were similar (p = 0.36; p = 0.79).

Conclusions:

Compared to C-MAC, the hemodynamic response to ETI was less with Airtraq. Thus, Airtraq may be preferred in CABG patients for ETI.