Wendl Nasopharyngeal Airways

 

 

This section is contributed by Ernst Zadrobilek and will be regularly updated to take account of comments on this version.

 

Last updated: March 10, 2005.

 

 

In 1958, Johann Karl Wendl (gynecologist and obstretic physician, Germany) communicated a new nasopharyngeal airway. The Wendl nasopharyngeal airway was a soft red rubber airway (maximum overall length 17 cm for adults) with a cone-shaped enlarged proximal end and a movable flange (to adjust the depth of insertion and to prevent the outside end from passing beyond the nares); the distal end was beveled on the left side.

 

This nasopharyngeal airway was originally manufactured by the Ruesch Company (Kernen, Germany). Later, a double-barreled modification of the Wendl nasopharyngeal airway (with a long or short insufflation line) to allow the application of oxygen or the insertion of a line for capnometry was manufactured by the same company.

 

 

Wendl Red Rubber Nasopharyngeal Airway (Ruesch Company, Object Number 1)

Wendl Red Rubber Nasopharyngeal Airway (Double-Barreled Modification with Long Insufflation Line, Ruesch Company, Object Number 1) 

Wendl Red Rubber Nasopharyngeal Airway (Double-Barreled Modification with Short Insufflation Line, Ruesch Company, Object Number 1) 

 

 

References:

 

Wendl HK: The story of the Wendl-tube and its use. In: Schulte am Esch J, Goering M (eds) The History of Anaesthesia. Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on the History of Anaesthesia, Hamburg. Draeger, Luebeck, 1998, p 531-534.