Suspension laryngoscopy revisited. 2004

Steven M Zeitels, and James A Burns, and Seth H Dailey
Department of Otology and Laryngology, Harvard Medical School, and Division of Laryngology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA.

Every critical advancement in direct laryngoscopic surgical technique has enhanced its precision. Among the most notable was Killian's seminal description of suspension laryngoscopy 90 years ago, which allowed for bimanual direct laryngoscopic surgery. Because of the technical difficulties encountered while performing suspension laryngoscopy, Brünings and Seiffert designed fulcrum laryngoscope holder-stabilizers for spatula laryngoscopes from Killian's original instrument design. Their devices, which were easier to use and better tolerated by patients, were supported from the laryngeal cartilage framework or chest wall. Laryngoscope holder-stabilizers were retrofitted to tubular laryngoscope specula in the 1940s and 1950s, whereupon they became very popular. Suspension laryngoscopy should have become more common subsequent to the introduction of general endotracheal anesthesia with paralysis in the 1960s. However, laryngoscope holder-stabilizers were entrenched as the device preferred by most, and they remain so today. This entrenchment occurred despite the fact that suspension laryngoscopy allows for positioning a larger examining speculum, which in turn allows for enhanced exposure and endolaryngeal procedural precision. The applied vector forces on the mandible, maxilla, oral cavity, pharynx, and larynx associated with suspension laryngoscopy are preferable to those associated with holder-stabilizers. A prospective assessment of 120 cases revealed effective use of suspension laryngoscopy in all. We believe that only a minority of surgeons has actually seen true suspension laryngoscopy and that its merits are worthy of reexamination.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007828 Laryngoscopy Examination, therapy or surgery of the interior of the larynx performed with a specially designed endoscope. Laryngoscopic Surgical Procedures,Surgical Procedures, Laryngoscopic,Laryngoscopic Surgery,Surgery, Laryngoscopic,Laryngoscopic Surgeries,Laryngoscopic Surgical Procedure,Laryngoscopies,Procedure, Laryngoscopic Surgical,Procedures, Laryngoscopic Surgical,Surgeries, Laryngoscopic,Surgical Procedure, Laryngoscopic
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D049672 History, 19th Century Time period from 1801 through 1900 of the common era. 19th Century History,19th Cent. History (Medicine),19th Cent. History of Medicine,19th Cent. Medicine,Historical Events, 19th Century,History of Medicine, 19th Cent.,History, Nineteenth Century,Medical History, 19th Cent.,Medicine, 19th Cent.,19th Cent. Histories (Medicine),19th Century Histories,Cent. Histories, 19th (Medicine),Cent. History, 19th (Medicine),Century Histories, 19th,Century Histories, Nineteenth,Century History, 19th,Century History, Nineteenth,Histories, 19th Cent. (Medicine),Histories, 19th Century,Histories, Nineteenth Century,History, 19th Cent. (Medicine),Nineteenth Century Histories,Nineteenth Century History
D049673 History, 20th Century Time period from 1901 through 2000 of the common era. 20th Century History,20th Cent. History (Medicine),20th Cent. History of Medicine,20th Cent. Medicine,Historical Events, 20th Century,History of Medicine, 20th Cent.,History, Twentieth Century,Medical History, 20th Cent.,Medicine, 20th Cent.,20th Cent. Histories (Medicine),20th Century Histories,Cent. Histories, 20th (Medicine),Cent. History, 20th (Medicine),Century Histories, 20th,Century Histories, Twentieth,Century History, 20th,Century History, Twentieth,Histories, 20th Cent. (Medicine),Histories, 20th Century,Histories, Twentieth Century,History, 20th Cent. (Medicine),Twentieth Century Histories,Twentieth Century History
D020704 Laryngoscopes Endoscopes for examining the interior of the larynx. Laryngoscope

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