Low-Cost Video Stylet Improves Speed and Safety of Patient Intubation During Surgery

Many intubations are now considered complex procedures due to factors such as a patient’s anatomy, weight, or other injuries. These complexities can delay oxygenation in emergency situations or cause damage to the patient’s vocal cords, esophagus, and other upper airway structures. While current video-enabled tools offer some assistance, they often come with notable drawbacks. Many of these tools require specialist training, feature reusable components that need to be cleaned and sterilized, and provide limited visual feedback. For example, bronchoscopes help anesthetists visualize a patient’s trachea, but the scope must be removed before inserting the endotracheal tube (ETT), increasing the risk of tube misplacement. To address these issues, an innovative, video-capable medical device has been designed to improve the speed and safety of patient intubation during surgery and in emergency care.

42 Technology (42T, Cambridgeshire, UK) has introduced LARi, a low-cost, single-use video stylet designed to function similarly to the conventional intubation stylets used by anesthetists to shape ETTs and guide them through the patient’s vocal cords. This new device integrates smoothly into existing workflows while providing a real-time video feed of the entire intubation process to assist in navigating difficult airways and ensuring the correct placement of the tube in the patient’s trachea.

Image: The LARi low-cost, single-use video stylet improves speed and safety of patient intubation (Photo courtesy of 42T)

LARi is the first video stylet specifically designed to complement an anesthetist’s existing tools and workflow, offering faster and more accurate tube placement. It delivers a continuous real-time video of the entire intubation procedure and is user-friendly, requiring no additional training. The video feed from the tip of the ETT is displayed either on a customized laryngoscope-mounted display or an external monitor. The first working prototype of this groundbreaking innovation was presented by 42T at CES 2025.

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