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A randomised controlled trial comparing two insertion techniques for the Laryngeal Mask Airway Flexible in patients undergoing dental surgery
Anaesthesia, 06/12/2012
Choo CY et al. – The study suggests the use of the laryngoscope to guide insertion of the Laryngeal Mask Airway Flexible (LMA Flexible) for dental surgery is a better option compared with the standard technique of digital manipulation.
Methods- One hundred and eight patients were randomly assigned into two groups based on the LMA Flexible insertion technique–either laryngoscopy–guided (n=54) or digital manipulation (standard technique; n=54).
- Patient and airway characteristics were recorded before induction of anaesthesia.
- The primary outcome was success rate at first insertion.
- Other outcomes assessed included fibreoptic assessment of laryngeal mask airway placement, haemodynamic changes, need for airway adjustment during surgery and sore throat.
- The success rate of insertion on the first attempt was higher for the laryngoscopy–assisted technique compared with the standard technique (96.3% vs 81.5%, respectively, p<0.05).
- Fibreoptic assessment showed that the former group had better placement of the laryngeal mask airway than the latter (59.3% vs 37% p<0.05).
- There were no significant differences between the two groups for haemodynamic changes.
- Sore throat was more common in the group with the standard technique (35.2% vs 16.7%, p<0.05).
