Towards evidence based emergency medicine: best BETs from the Manchester Royal Infirmary. Colourimetric CO(2) detector compared with capnography for confirming ET tube placement.

A short cut review was carried out to establish whether colourimetric carbon dioxide detectors are as reliable as capnometry at verifying tracheal placement of endotracheal tubes after emergency intubation. A total of 69 papers were found using the reported search, of which four presented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results, and study weaknesses of these best papers are tabulated. A clinical bottom line is stated.