Laryngeal mask versus endotracheal intubation for pre-hospital emergency airway management: a meta-analysis of randomized manikin and human studies

Background Pre-hospital emergency airway management plays an important role in pre-hospital care. Laryngeal masks are increasingly employed for the airway management of pre-hospital critical patients and have achieved promising results. Although several randomized controlled trials have reported benefits, the efficacy of laryngeal masks in pre-hospital emergency airway management compared to endotracheal intubation have not been systematically reviewed.Methods Electronic databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, Scopus and CNKI) were searched up to April 2019 for related randomized studies. Outcome indicators were overall intubation success rates, success rates of the initial intubation, insertion time, ventilation efficiency rates, SpO2 rise time and blood gas index. Two investigators selected the trials, extracted the data according to inclusion and exclusion criteria, and assessed the quality of the literature according to the Jada score. The meta-analysis was performed using stata14.0 software.Results We included 9 randomized manikin studies and 31 human studies. Meta-analysis of the manikin studies showed that the overall intubation success rates of the laryngeal mask group [RR=1.10, 95% CI (1.02, 1.18), P<0.05] and the success rates of first intubation [RR=1.25, 95% CI (1.01, 1.55), P <0.05] were significantly higher than the endotracheal intubation group. The insertion time of the laryngeal mask group was also significantly shorter [SMD = -1.53, 95% CI (-1.88, -1.17), P <0.05]. In human studies, excluding the success rates of first intubation and insertion time, the laryngeal mask was superior to endotracheal intubation and improved the patients’ blood gas index and shortened the SpO2 rise time. All the results were statistically significant.Conclusions Compared to endotracheal intubation, laryngeal masks could quickly and effectively improve patient ventilation in pre-hospital emergencies, highlighting its utility for clinical application .