Title: 2010 AHA updates: airway

Category: Cardiology

Keywords: airway, ACLS, AHA (PubMed Search)

Posted: 11/7/2010 by Amal Mattu, MD (Updated: 11/14/2010)

The new 2010 AHA guidelines have provided greater focus on airway issues in patients suffering from cardiac arrest. Amongst the important areas of new emphasis are: (1) Cricoid pressure is no longer routinely recommended during intubation, and in fact it has been given a Class III rating ("harmful"); and (2) there is now a very strong push to use quantitative end-tidal CO2 monitoring (rather than just qualitative confirmation) of the airway after endotracheal intubation.

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