Video Tech Boosts Airway Management Market

Article preview from Medtech Insight - January, 2011

Innovation in intubation devices, particularly video-enabled technology, is breathing new life into the market for airway management products. At the 2010 meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, held in San Diego in October, manufacturers showcased a variety of new intubation devices designed to improve visualization, avoid complications, and provide fast and simple solutions for patients with difficult airways.

Video Tech Boosts Airway Management Market

By Anne Staylor

Innovation in intubation devices, particularly video-enabled technology, is breathing new life into the market for airway management products. Advances in technology have begun to transform this space from what was once essentially a commodity business (with low-price, low-margin products) into a specialty business (with high-price, high-margin products) that is growing an estimated 10% per year. At the 2010 meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), held in San Diego in October, manufacturers showcased a variety of new intubation devices designed to improve visualization, avoid complications, and provide fast and simple solutions for patients with difficult airways.

There is no single definition of difficult intubation; however, one factor that contributes to difficult intubation is poor visualization of the airway. Currently, endotracheal intubation is most commonly performed via direct laryngoscopy, a method that uses a conventional laryngoscope to perform a series of maneuvers, such as extending the head, opening the mouth, displacing and compressing the tongue, and lifting the mandible forward, in order to directly visualize the vocal cords and place a flexible plastic tube into the trachea.

Although anesthesia-related airway complications have decreased dramatically over the past 30 years and failed intubations are infrequent, when problems do occur during intubation the consequences can be serious. No one knows for sure exactly how many difficult intubations occur each year. Estimates vary widely in the published literature, ranging from 1.5% to 18% of all intubations performed annually in the US, with failed intubations occurring in 0.04% to 0.07% of those cases. But difficult intubations remain a common cause of anesthesia-related morbidity and mortality, and adverse effects can go well beyond the sore throat and tissue damage that can occur during intubation. A difficult intubation can lead to decreased oxygen to the brain, resulting in brain damage and even death. In addition to the human costs associated with difficult intubations, the economic costs are considerable. The cost of difficult intubations, including medical malpractice costs, surgical delays/cancellations, complications, and extended hospital stays, are estimated to be in the billions of dollars annually.

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