Today, we acquired a new toy… uh, I mean tool on loan at work. It’s a Storz C-MAC video laryngoscope. (If that doesn’t mean anything to you, you’re allowed not be be excited and stop reading now. Still here? OK – it’s a thingymegummy for looking down the throat for putting in a breathing tube in patients under anaesthesia, with a video camera built in so that you can see better. Practical AND technogeeky… who could ask for more?)
We’ve had a GlideScope on loan for quite some time, but it regularly gets withdrawn from theatre for training, so we obviously want our own. There is of course a lot of competition in the video laryngoscope market, with many different devices and philosophies behind their construction. I’ve really enjoyed the GlideScope, which (after you’ve ascended the learning curve) is a wonderful device, but it is good to play…uh, I mean work with as many different tools as possible. Hence, it’s the C-MAC’s turn.
Typically, when the device arrived we had no suitable patients on which to use it, so I had to improvise: 10% lignocaine spray in my own oropharynx eased the process. The C-MAC has an SD card slot and records photos and video at the touch of a button, so I was able to take a nice picture of my own vocal cords (that’s a Cormack-Lehane grade 2 view for those studying airways) and a video of the process:
If the video is not working you can watch it on YouTube (a goldmine for medical training, by the way): C-MAC Self-Laryngoscopy