Comparison of the Miller Laryngoscope and the Macintosh Laryngoscope During Endotracheal Intubation in Adult Patients

Tracheal intubation is the gold standard of the airway in the operating theater in patients undergoing general anesthesia for surgery, in intensive care and emergency medicine, in patients with severe respiratory failure, which is life-threatening. The laryngoscope is a device used to visualize the entrance to the airway and the subsequent insertion of the tracheal tube into the trachea and main bronchus. Macintosh and Miller laryngoscopes have been used in clinical practice for several decades. The Macintosh laryngoscope is most commonly used for the intubation of adult patients, and the Miller laryngoscope for the intubation of newborns, including premature babies and pediatric patients. Currently, when we are dealing with the sars covid-19 virus epidemic and a large number of patients with respiratory failure requiring endotracheal intubation and replacement ventilation, searching for a device that facilitates endotracheal intubation, especially by people with little experience in using it, in the absence of anesthesiologists, seems to be justified. The aim of the study will be to assess the possibility of using the Miller's laryngoscope for intubation of adult patients and to compare it with the most frequently used Macintosh laryngoscope in this group of patients. The study will include patients scheduled for elective surgery under general endotracheal anesthesia. After a typical induction of anesthesia with the use of short-term intravenous anesthetics, opioids and muscle relaxants, appropriate for the planned surgery and a specific patient, after obtaining complete neuromuscular blockade, a Macintosh laryngoscope will be inserted to perform direct laryngoscopy and assess the exit to the respiratory tract with the help of the Cormack scale. Then the laryngoscope will be removed, the patient will receive active oxygen therapy to increase blood oxygenation to the value of 99-100%, and then an additional dose of intravenous anesthetic will be administered and a second direct laryngoscopy will be performed with the Miller's laryngoscope with a subsequent assessment of airway entry using the scale Cormack. The patient will then be intubated and connected to an anesthesia machine.