• Michael T Steuerwald, Darren A Braude, Timothy R Petersen, Kari Peterson, and Michael A Torres.
• UW Med Flight, 600 Highland Ave, Madison, WI 53792; Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 800 University Bay Drive, Suite 310, Mail Code 9123, Madison, WI 53705. Electronic address: mike.steuerwald@gmail.com.
• Air Med. J. 2018 Jul 1; 37 (4): 240-243.

IntroductionThere has been a shift from endotracheal intubation (ETI) toward extraglottic devices (EGDs) for prehospital airway management. A concern exists that this may lead to more frequent cases of aspiration.MethodsThis was a retrospective study using a prehospital quality assurance database. Patients were assigned to groups based on the method that ultimately managed their airways (EGD or ETI). Cases with documented blood/emesis obscuring the airway were considered inevitable aspiration cases and excluded. Aspiration was defined by the radiology report within 48 hours.ResultsA total of 104 EGD and 152 ETI patients were identified. Aspiration data were available for 67 EGD and 94 ETI cases. Of those, 8 EGD and 3 ETI cases had blood/emesis obscuring the airway and were excluded as planned. After exclusions, there were 5 EGD and 11 ETI cases in which aspiration was later diagnosed (EGD aspiration rate = 8%, ETI aspiration rate = 12%; χ2: P = .359; relative risk = .841; 95% confidence interval, .329-2.152).ConclusionIn this small quality assurance database, aspiration rates were not significantly different for prehospital patients managed with an EGD versus ETI.Copyright © 2018 Air Medical Journal Associates. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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