Journal of clinical monitoring and computing
-
J Clin Monit Comput · Oct 2021
Letter Meta AnalysisComparison between laryngeal handshake and palpation techniques in the identification of cricothyroid membrane: a meta-analysis.
Because the use of conventional digital palpation technique for the identification of cricothyroid membrane (CTM) has been widely believed to be unreliable, the 'laryngeal handshake' technique (LH) has been introduced for CTM identification in the event of cricothyroidotomy. To provide evidence for clinical practice, this pilot meta-analysis aimed at investigating whether identification of CTM with the LH is superior to that with the palpation technique. Studies that evaluated the accuracy of CTM identification by using LH or palpation techniques (i.e., LH group vs. ⋯ Four studies published from 2018 to 2020 were considered relevant and were read in full. We found no significant difference in success rate of CTM identification [Risk Ratio (RR) 1.09, 95% CI 0.89-1.34, p = 0.41] between the two groups. These preliminary results of the current study demonstrated no significant differences in success rate between the laryngeal handshake and conventional palpation techniques in cricothyroid membrane identification.