"Hanger" in Intubation and Laryngoscopy

Achieving an adequate exposure in laryngoscopy is an extremely tedious task for the operating surgeon, especially for the anterior commissure lesions. Various maneuvers have been described to overcome this difficulty, but failed in providing an adequate exposure leading to a poor outcome. To create a device that can deliver uniform pressure over the laryngeal cartilage and succeed in providing an adequate exposure of the glottic lesion. A total of 44 patients were included in the study, divided into two groups containing 22 patients each. The distance at the level of anterior commissure from the superior border of the distal end of the laryngoscope was noted and compared. Group A subjected to digital cricoid pressure showed a mean distance of 9.09 of exposure with variance of 1.22 and Group B subjected to cricoid pressure with the cricoid catapult showed a mean distance of 11.76 with variance of 1.59. The groups were statistically analyzed using Anova Test and the test was found to be very significant (p < 0.0001). The catapult is made of a hanger defining its economics, which has a vital role in difficult intubations especially in anterior placed larynx, short neck and obese patients, also succeeds in providing an adequate exposure of the glottic lesion, (especially the anterior commissure) by delivering uniform pressure over the laryngeal cartilage, leading to a superior operative outcome.