In a difficult access scenario, supraglottic airway devices improve success and time to ventilation.

The success of tracheal intubation (TI) is unacceptably low in unconventional positions. Supraglottic airway devices (SAD) have become an important alternative. An airway manikin was placed in a car, simulating an entrapped motor vehicle accident victim. The rescuer only had access through the driver's door. Participants were (n = 25) anaesthesiologists with experience in prehospital emergency medicine. They attempted to secure the airway by TI or an SAD (Ambu AuraOnce, iGel, laryngeal tube) in a random sequence. Performance was compared using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. P values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Fastest effective ventilation was achieved with iGel (11.5 ± 6.9 s, P < 0.001), followed by a laryngeal mask (15.1 ± 5.6 s, P < 0.001) and a laryngeal tube (17.6 ± 5.3 s, P < 0.001); TI was the slowest (42.8 ± 23.9 s, comparator). iGel (P < 0.001) and laryngeal mask (P = 0.01) also significantly outperformed the laryngeal tube. First ventilation was achieved significantly faster with SADs compared with TI. Success rates were also higher when using SADs.