Conventional Tracheal Tubes for Intubation Through the Intubating Laryngeal Mask Airway

The laryngeal mask airway (LMA)-Fastrach™ silicone wire-reinforced tracheal tube (FTST) was specially designed for tracheal intubation through the intubating LMA (ILMA). However, conventional tracheal tubes have been successfully used to accomplish tracheal intubation. We designed this study to evaluate the success rate of blind tracheal intubation through the ILMA by using the FTST, the Rusch polyvinyl chloride tube (PVCT), and the Rusch latex armored tube (LAT). One-hundred-fifty healthy adults of ASA physical status I and II who were undergoing elective surgery under general anesthesia were randomly allocated into three groups. FTST (n = 50), prewarmed PVCT (n = 50), and LAT (n = 50) were used for tracheal intubation. Ease of tracheal intubation was assessed by the time taken, the number of attempts, and the number of maneuvers required for success. In addition, numbers of failed intubation attempts and times taken for ILMA removal were also recorded. After surgery, the incidence of trauma, sore throat, and hoarseness was noted. Significantly more frequent success in tracheal intubation was achieved with the PVCT and FTST (96%) compared with the LAT (82%) (P < 0.05). Tracheal intubation on the first attempt was similar with the PVCT and FTST (86%) and was significantly more frequent than with the LAT (52%) (P < 0.05). Esophageal placement was significantly more frequent with the LAT (29.7%) when compared with the PVCT and FTST (1.8% and 7.4%, respectively) (P < 0.05). The authors conclude that a prewarmed PVCT can be used as successfully as the FTST for blind tracheal intubation through the ILMA, whereas the LAT is associated with more frequent failure and esophageal intubation.