critical care medicine
How To Do a Percutaneous Cricothyrotomy
Equipment for Percutaneous Cricothyrotomy
Antiseptic solution (eg,chlorhexidine,povidone-iodine) and sterile gauze Sterile drapes Sterile gloves and gowns along with eye and face protection (universal precautions) Local anesthetic (eg, 1% or 2%lidocainewithepinephrine, 25-gauge needle, 3-mL syringe) Catheter-over-the-needle device capable of accommodating a guidewire, attached to a 3- to 6-mL syringe half-filled with saline Flexible guidewire in a plastic housing Airway catheter (tracheal tube) that has a plastic inflatable cuff and a removable intraluminal curved blunt dilator (which facilitates insertion) #15 scalpel blade Suction source and suction catheter Bag-valve-mask and oxygen source Patient monitoring equipment, including cardiac monitor, pulse oximeter, blood pressure monitor (noninvasive) Capnometer (end-tidal carbon dioxide monitor), if available Some commercially available kits contain all or some of these: airway catheter, guidewire, syringe, and catheter-over-needle device. 