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Directly measured mucosal pressures produced by the i‐gel TM and laryngeal mask airway Supreme TM in paralysed anaesthetised patients
Author(s) -
Eschertzhuber S.,
Brimacombe J.,
Kaufmann M.,
Keller C.,
Tiefenthaler W.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
anaesthesia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.839
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1365-2044
pISSN - 0003-2409
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2044.2011.07024.x
Subject(s) - medicine , laryngeal mask airway , inflatable , airway , laryngeal masks , larynx , tongue , anesthesia , anatomy , pathology , mechanical engineering , engineering
Summary The i‐gel TM and LMA Supreme TM are extraglottic airway devices with non‐inflatable and inflatable cuffs, respectively. We hypothesised that directly measured mucosal pressures would differ between these devices in anesthetised paralysed patients. Thirty patients were randomly allocated to receive one of these two devices. Four pressure sensors were attached to all airway devices used to measure mucosal pressure at the base of the tongue, the distal oropharynx, the hypopharynx and the pyriform fossa. At these four places, median (IQR [range]) i‐gel mucosal pressures were 8.0 (2.7–10.7 [0–26.7]), 5.0 (2.7–7 [1.0–37.3]), 9.3 (2.7–13.3 [0–22.7] and 8.0 (2.7–10.7 [0–25.3]) cmH 2 O, respectively, and for the LMA Supreme, these were 5.0 (0.5–8.0 [0–33]), 4.0 (1.3–9.3 [0–24]), 10.7 (4–17.3 [0–26.7]) and 8.0 (0–10.7 [0–36]) cmH 2 O, respectively. Mucosal pressures were low and similar for both devices. The LMA Supreme mucosal pressures were higher in the hypopharynx than in the distal oropharynx (p = 0.04) and base of the tongue (p = 0.011). There were no pressure differences between the locations for the i‐gel.