Introduction Tracheal intubation remains an everyday challenge for anaesthesiologists, even in patients without suspected difficult airways. This trial aims to compare the efficacy for orotracheal intubation of the SP or the head-elevated laryngoscopy position HELP , which has been shown to improve laryngeal visualization and the intubation condition particularly in obese patients, in combination with a McGrath Mac videolaryngoscope whose video screen is either on or off Video or NoVideo.
Methods and analysis The HELP-VDL factorial trial is a prospective, randomised, parallel, multicentre, open study of adult patients undergoing tracheal intubation under general anaesthesia. The primary outcome is the proportion of orotracheal intubations that requires the assistance of a nurse anaesthetist.
The secondary outcomes include the intubation duration, the first intubation success rate, the quality of visualisation of the glottis, the glottis visualisation score, adjunctive manoeuvres and alternative techniques used, the occurrence of oesophageal intubation, failure of tracheal intubation, the incidence of arterial oxygen desaturation, the perception of a difficult intubation, the score on the Intubation Difficulty Scale, cooperation among the members of the anaesthesia team, the evolution of vital signs and the frequency and severity of intubation complications.
Data will be analysed on the intention-to-treat principle and a per-protocol basis. Participant recruitment began on 3 July The results will be submitted for publication in peer-reviewed journals. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways. The primary outcome was pragmatically selected to represent the clinical relevance of the difficulty of tracheal intubation.
The risk of selection and allocation biases will be reduced through the use of computer-generated randomisation and allocation concealment. Only patients without predictable difficulty of intubation will be included since the indication for videolaryngoscopy is disputable in this population. The head-elevated position is not amenable to the blinding of patients or clinical or research staff; consequently, this is an open study.
