• Dhimitri A Nikolla, Briana King, Andrew Heslin, and Jestin N Carlson.
• Department of Emergency Medicine, Allegheny Health Network - Saint Vincent Hospital, Erie, Pennsylvania.
• J Emerg Med. 2021 Sep 1; 61 (3): 265-270.

BackgroundCommercial large-bore suction catheters and makeshift large-bore suction catheters with an endotracheal tube (ETT) attached to a meconium aspirator have been shown to have superior suction rates compared with a standard Yankauer.ObjectivesTo compare suction rates between a commercial large-bore suction catheter and a makeshift endotracheal tube-meconium aspirator (ETTMA) combination.MethodsWe measured suction rates between a standard bulb-tip Yankauer catheter (Model: K86; Cardinal Health, Waukegan, IL), a commercial large-bore catheter (Part: 43200; The Big Stick®, SSCOR, Inc., Sun Valley, CA), and an 8.0-mm standard ETT connected to a meconium aspirator (NeotechTM Products, Inc., Valencia, CA; Ref: N0101 Clear) with high-, medium-, and low-viscosity fluids. Median suction rates were calculated with interquartile ranges. The relative differences with 95% confidence intervals (CI) between the Yankauer and both the large-bore catheter and the ETTMA combination were calculated using a linear mixed-effects model.ResultsEach device was trialed five times with each of the three different viscosity fluids for a total of 45 trials. Overall, suction rates were faster for the large-bore suction catheter compared with the Yankauer (relative difference 22 mL/s; 95% CI 17-28) and ETTMA (8 mL/s; 95% CI 5-10). The large-bore catheter had consistently faster suction rates compared with the Yankauer and ETTMA combination across all fluid viscosities.ConclusionsThe commercial large-bore suction catheter had faster suction rates than the makeshift ETTMA combination when compared with the standard Yankauer.Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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