Acute cardiac care & resuscitationCohort study
Prehospital emergency cricothyroidotomy in Denmark: a nationwide cohort study, 2016–2023
- nationwide registry-based observational cohort study
- iterative free-text searches and manual validation
- linkage with the Danish Cardiac Arrest Register
Authors' conclusion
Prehospital emergency cricothyroidotomy was an exceedingly rare procedure but demonstrated high procedural success in this nationwide physician-staffed Emergency Medical Services system. Survival among patients with OHCA was relatively low, reflecting the critical condition of patients requiring emergency cricothyroidotomy.
Study context
- Population
- All patients undergoing prehospital emergency cricothyroidotomy in Denmark between 2016 and 2023validated prehospital emergency cricothyroidotomy cases · OHCA patients 48 · patients without OHCA 23
- Participants
- 71 patients
- Exposure
- OHCA vs without OHCA
- OHCAn = 48
- without OHCAn = 23
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Procedural success
- Overall procedural success
- 87.3%
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Indications
- Aspiration
- 32.4%
- Oropharyngeal bleeding
- 33.8%
- most frequent indications
Outcomes among the 48 patients with OHCA
- Return of spontaneous circulation
- 25.0%
- 30-day survival
- 4.5%
- One-year survival
- 2.3%
Emergency cricothyroidotomy among nationwide OHCA patients
- Performed in 48 of 39,885 nationwide OHCA patients
- 0.12%
Original publication
Prehospital emergency cricothyroidotomy in Denmark: a nationwide cohort study, 2016–2023. Resuscitation. Published 24 August 2026. doi:10.1016/j.resuscitation.2026.111276
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it