R.E.B.E.L.EM - November 15, 2018 - By Anand Swaminathan
..."Potential to Impact Current Practice: Cricoid pressure should not routinely be provided to patients undergoing intubation.
Bottom Line: Occlusion of the esophagus by cricoid pressure appears to be a myth based on MRI and US studies. Previous literature demonstrates that cricoid pressure gives inferior views and no high-quality literature has shown decreased aspiration with application of cricoid pressure.
All of this in conjunction with the numbers seen in this study tells us that pulmonary aspiration is uncommon in the OR setting and isn’t reduced by the application of cricoid pressure. While an ED based study would be nice to have, the current evidence tells us that application of cricoid pressure is unlikely to benefit our patients but is likely to make our intubation more difficult..."