Health is the highest value of man. In some cases, surgery is required to maintain good health. When using general anesthesia , intubation is necessary - this is the introduction of a special tube into the trachea. Despite all its simplicity, it is also a kind of operation associated with risks and technical difficulties.
Intubation goal
Intubation (which this manipulation means will be described in the article) can be used at the prehospital stage when providing emergency care.
Intubation can provide:
- holding the breath of the patient, in particular controlled and auxiliary;
- normal airway patency regardless of the patient’s position;
- lack of risk of suffocation as a result of ingestion of vomit, mucus, blood, foreign objects and spasm of ligaments;
- the ability to remove foreign bodies from the bronchi and trachea;
- the possibility of straightening sections of the lungs;
- improving conditions for eliminating pulmonary edema.
Intubation is performed (this is the introduction of the tube into the trachea) with difficulty breathing as a result of pulmonary edema, severe poisoning, respiratory failure, however, with violations of the structure of the facial part of the skull, inflammation and other injuries in the cervical spine and cervical spine, this procedure cannot be performed.
Intubation Instruments
There is a certain set of tools that are used to make intubation (this is an operation to facilitate breathing). To do this, you need:
- endotracheal tubes varying in size of outer diameter, length, with and without cuffs, with the presence of one or two lumens (cuff tubes are used for children);
- a laryngoscope with straight and curved blades: it includes a handle into which the battery is inserted and a blade with a light (blades can be quickly changed if necessary);
- anesthesiological forceps (have a curved shape);
- a conductor - a thin metal rod, which, despite the material used, is soft (necessary in difficult cases of intubation);
- a local anesthetic nebulizer (rarely used, since most often intubation is the process of introducing a tube into the trachea, it is performed in emergency cases when the patient is under general anesthesia or in an unconscious state).
Types of Intubation
Depending on the purpose of this medical manipulation, intubation of the lungs (which is described above) can be of two types:
- orotracheal - a tube is inserted into the trachea through the mouth;
- nasotracheal - the introduction of an endotracheal tube through the nose (in this case, the size of the tubes should be slightly smaller).
Separately, it is necessary to isolate a tracheostomy, however, this operation only vaguely resembles intubation, since anesthesiologists use completely different technology, but the goal is almost the same - to ensure airway patency.
Lung intubation technology
Intubation is an introduction to the trachea tube. It is carried out in two ways, depending on whether the patient is conscious or not. In the first case, local anesthesia is performed. The patient needs to breathe deeply, while inhaling push the tube through the glottis. At the same time, the doctor makes sure that the tube gets into the trachea, and not into the esophagus.
When the patient is unconscious, the direct laryngoscopy method is used. In this case, the head should be maximally straightened, it is better to put a roller under it. The doctor independently opens the patient’s mouth, holds the laryngoscope blade along the back of the tongue, thereby moving it to the left, and then moves the laryngoscope into the trachea. After this, a tube is inserted on inspiration.
Intestinal intubation
There is such a thing as intestinal intubation, or intraoperative intestinal decompression. This manipulation is carried out in order to eliminate intestinal contents. There are three types of intestinal intubation:
- nasogastric;
- retrograde through the rectum;
- retrograde through intestinal fistula.
Intubation of the small intestine through an appendecostomy is also performed to prevent or treat patients' postoperative paresis.
Special probes are used for this, which can be single-channel, two-channel and multi-channel, however, the first two are most often used.
Like any other operation, intubation (this is manipulation to facilitate breathing) can have complications. Most often this is suffocation, damage to teeth and mucous membranes, cramps. However, if the whole procedure is carried out according to the rules, then there will be no complications, and the patient's life will be saved.