Cervical ultrasound for endotracheal intubation confirmation in dogs by veterinary students: a cadaveric study

Although endotracheal intubation is usually a simple and fast procedure in dogs, some situations can be challenging and lead to the risk of tube misplacement in the esophagus—a life-threatening complication. Hence, confirming intubation is a cornerstone whenever this procedure is performed. Methods such as direct visualization or capnography present limitations insofar as they may be unreliable or unavailable under some circumstances. Ultrasound has emerged as a promising tool to confirm intubation in medicine. However, so far little research has been done on the subject in veterinary medicine. This study’s main goal was to investigate ultrasound performed by veterinary students as a confirmation method for intubation in canine cadavers after a brief training session (25 minutes). A total of 160 exams were performed with a microconvex probe by 20 students in 11 different cadavers on left and right recumbencies. Overall accuracy was 70.6% with a median success rate of 75% and a median time to diagnosis of 25 seconds. The number of correct diagnoses was statistically higher than the wrong ones (p