Ovassapian Intubating Airway

WLMD ID: alte

Description
Catalog Record

‘Oral’ airways are inserted into the mouth and upper throat. Most of the time, they are used to prevent a patient’s breathing from becoming obstructed. Intubating airways also protect and provide space for a fiberoptic endoscope and endotracheal (breathing) tube while they are carefully inserted through the patient’s mouth and throat and into the trachea (windpipe).

Fiberoptic endoscopes contain thin and flexible light transmitting fibers. They allow physicians to see into parts of the body, such as the colon or bronchi, and perform procedures in a less invasive manner. Although endoscopy was originally designed for other purposes, anesthesiologists, such as Andranik Ovassapian, M.D. (1936-2010), have played a large role in its development for airway management.

In the 1970s, Dr. Ovassapian began using an endoscope to insert endotracheal tubes in patients where conventional techniques were difficult. By the early 1980s, he and his colleagues had established the first formal fiberoptic airway management teaching program for residents. In 1984, they also developed a workshop for practicing anesthesiologists. Dr. Ovassapian filed to patent the design for his intubating airway (pictured here) in 1988. In 1995, he founded the Society for Airway Management. Airway management refers to a broad number of techniques aimed at keeping an open pathway for air to move in and out of a patient's lungs.

Catalog Record: Ovassapian Intubating Airway

Access Key: alte

Accession No.: 2008-06-02-1 AT 1

Title: [The Ovassapian fiber-optic intubating airway.]

Author: Ovassapian, Andranik, 1936-2010,
Author: Dykes, Michael H.M., 1931-1990.

Title variation: Alt Title
Title: Ovassapian fiberoptic intubating airway.

Title variation: Alt Title
Title: Ovassapian intubating airway.

Publisher: [Place of manufacture not indicated] : [Name of manufacturer not indicated],
[between 1986 and 2007].

Physical Descript: 1 airway : plastic ; 4 x 3.5 x 8.5 cm.

Subject: Intubation, Intratracheal – instrumentation.
Subject: Intubation, Intratracheal – methods.
Subject: Airway Management – instrumentation.
Subject: Airway Management Equipment.

Note Type: General
Notes: Because there are no markings on the airway, the date range for the possible
year of manufacture is very broad and begins before the patent application
was filed. The early year is based he first publication found to contain a
photograph of the airway (1987 article). The end date is based on the year
that the airway was donated to the WLM (2008). The date range could change if
documentation that indicates the dates should be corrected is discovered.

Note Type: General
Notes: The title is based on the earliest publications in which the airway is named
( a 1987 article by Dr. Ovassapian and Dykes).

Note Type: Citation
Notes: American Society of Anesthesiologists Task Force on Management of the
Difficult Airway. Practice guidelines for management of the difficult airway.
Anesthesiology. 1993;78(3):597-602. https://anesthesiology.pubs.asahq.
org/article.aspx?articleid=1950819. Accessed April 10, 2015.

Note Type: Citation
Notes: Andranik Ovassapian, anesthesiologist and expert on ‘difficult’ airways,
1936-2010. UChicagoNews website. https://news.uchicago.
edu/article/2010/06/17/andranik-ovassapian-anesthesiologist-and-expert-diffic
lt-airways-1936-2010. Published June 18, 2010. Accessed April 10, 2015.

Note Type: Citation
Notes: Dudek M. Dr. Andranik Ovassapian, 1936-2010, boosted medical care for
millions via fiberoptics. Chicago Sun Times. June 23, 2010.

Note Type: Citation
Notes: Gil KSL, Diemunsch PA. Fiberoptic and flexible endoscopic-aided techniques.
In: Hagberg CA, ed. Benumof and Hagberg;s Airway Management. 3rd ed.
Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier Saunders; 2013:367, 374-375.

Note Type: Citation
Notes: ISA biographies: Andranik Ovassapian, M.D., President of ISA. ISA Today.
December, 1996;29(4):11-12.

Note Type: Citation
Notes: Ovassapian A. Fiberoptic tracheal intubation. In: Fiberoptic Airway Endoscopy
in Anesthesia and Critical Care. New York: Raven Press; 1990:57-58.

Note Type: Citation
Notes: Ovassapian A, Dye JF, inventors; The Endeal Company, assignee. Intubating
airway. US patent 5,024,218. June 18, 1991. https://www.google.
com/patents/US5024218. Accessed March 17, 2015. [The patent was filed on
October 27, 1988.]

Note Type: Not Applicable
Notes: Ovassapian A, Dykes MHM, Golmon M. A training program for fiberoptic
nasotracheal intubation. Use of model and live patients. Anaesthesia.
1983;38(8):795-798. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2044.
1983.tb12207.x/abstract. Accessed April 10, 2015.

Note Type: Citation
Notes: Ovassapian A, Dykes MHM. The role of fiber-optic endoscopy in airway
management. Semin Anesthesia. 1987;6(2):93-95.

Note Type: Physical Description
Notes: One white plastic oropharyngeal airway; The measurements in the physical
description field are rounded up to the nearest half inch and based on a
patient’s perspective; This description will also be based on a patient’s
perspective (i.e., the pharyngeal end will be called the proximal end);
Without the rounding-up, the airway measures approximately 3.8 x 3.4 x 8.3
cm; The exterior, or most distal, end of the airway is shaped like an upside
down capital letter A; The first two or so cm of the distal end are
reinforced to protect a fiberoptic tube from being bit upon by the patient;
The inferior, or lingual, surface of the tube is flat and curved downward
toward the proximal end; Between approximately .5 and 4.5 cm from the distal
end are two upright and inwardly curved guide walls; These guide walls are
more flexible than the posterior surface of the airway; No manufacturer or
previous owner marks are found on the airway.

Note Type: Reproduction
Notes: Photographed by Mr. Steve Donisch, January 13, 2015.

Note Type: Acquisition
Notes: Donated to the WLM by Vijayalkshmi U. Patil, Skaneateles, NY.

Note Type: Historical
Notes: ‘Oral’ airways are inserted into the mouth and upper throat. Most of the time, they are used to prevent a patient’s breathing from becoming obstructed. Intubating airways also protect and provide space for a fiberoptic endoscope and endotracheal (breathing) tube while they are carefully inserted through the patient’s mouth and throat and into the trachea (windpipe).

Fiberoptic endoscopes contain thin and flexible light transmitting fibers. They allow physicians to see into parts of the body, such as the colon or bronchi, and to perform procedures in a less invasive manner. Although endoscopy was originally designed for other purposes, anesthesiologists, such as Andranik Ovassapian, M.D. (1936-2010), have played a large role in its development for airway management.

Note Type: Publication
Notes: Dykes MH, Ovassapian A. Dissemination of fiberoptic airway endoscopy skills
by means of a workshop utilizing models. Br J Anaesth. 1989;63(5):595-597.

Note Type: Publication
Notes: Greenland KB, Lam MC, Irwin MG. Comparison of the Williams Airway Intubator
and Ovassapian Fibreoptic Intubating Airway for fibreoptic orotracheal
intubation. Anaesthesia. 2004;59(2):173-176.

Note Type: Publication
Notes: Ovassapian A. Fiberoptic Airway Endoscopy in Anesthesia and Critical Care.
New York: Raven Press; 1990.

Note Type: Publication
Notes: Ovassapian A. Fiberoptic-assisted management of the airway. In: Barash PG, ed
ASA Refresher Courses in Anesthesiology. Vol. 19. Philadelphia, PA: J.B.
Lippincott Company; 1991.

Note Type: Publication
Notes: Ovassapian A. Fiberoptic Endoscopy and the Difficult Airway. Philadelphia:
Lippincott-Raven; 1996.

Note Type: Publication
Notes: Randell T, Valli H, Hakala P. Comparison between the Ovassapian intubating
airway and the Berman intubating airway in fibreoptic intubation. Eur J
Anaesthesiol. 1997;14(4):380-384.

Note Type: Exhibition
Notes: Selected for the WLM website (noted March, 2015).