• Robert L Mabry, Matthew C Nichols, Drew C Shiner, Scotty Bolleter, and Alan Frankfurt.
• San Antonio Military Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, TX. Electronic address: robert.l.mabry8.mil@mail.mil.
• Ann Emerg Med. 2014 Jan 1;63(1):1-5.

Study ObjectiveThe CricKey is a novel surgical cricothyroidotomy device combining the functions of a tracheal hook, stylet, dilator, and bougie incorporated with a Melker airway cannula. This study compares surgical cricothyroidotomy with standard open surgical versus CricKey technique.MethodsThis was a prospective crossover study using human cadaveric models. Participants included US Army combat medics credentialed at the emergency medical technician-basic level. After a brief anatomy review and demonstration, participants performed in random order standard open surgical cricothyroidotomy and CricKey surgical cricothyroidotomy. The primary outcome was first-pass success, and the secondary outcome measure was procedural time.ResultsFirst-attempt success was 100% (15/15) for CricKey surgical cricothyroidotomy and 66% (10/15) for open surgical cricothyroidotomy (odds ratio 16.0; 95% confidence interval 0.8 to 326). Surgical cricothyroidotomy insertion was faster for CricKey than open technique (34 versus 65 seconds; median time difference 28 seconds; 95% confidence interval 16 to 48 seconds).ConclusionCompared with the standard open surgical cricothyroidotomy technique, military medics demonstrated faster insertion with the CricKey. First-pass success was not significantly different between the techniques.Copyright © 2013 American College of Emergency Physicians. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

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