Department of Emergency Medicine, Manhester Royal Infirmary, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9WL, UK.
A short cut review was carried out to establish whether prehospital intubation was of benefit to patients with moderate to severe head injury. 4630 papers were found using the reported searches, of which 9 presented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results, and study weaknesses of these best papers are tabulated. It is concluded that prehospital intubation is associated with increased mortality in these patients.