Cricothyrotomy (or cricothyroidotomy) devices are used to gain emergency access to a patient airway when standard endotracheal intubation cannot be performed. During my career at Cook, I helped develop and bring to market a couple cricothyrotomy devices, most notably the Cuffed Melker.
Cric devices are generally regarded as “insurance policies”. Hopefully, a clinician will never need to resort to a cricothyrotomy procedure. Because of this, cric devices should be somewhat intuitive and not require a great deal of training. We believed the Melker device fit this criteria because it utlizes the standard Seldinger technique (needle, guidewire, catheter) for insertion and physicians use this technique daily to place IVs, central lines, etc.
Pyng Medical has developed a new product: Complete Rapid Illuminated Cricothyrotomy (CRIC) Kit. The device looks interesting. Not sure how easy or difficult it is to use, however.
