Seventy-five inexperienced participants were timed inserting the laryngeal mask airway (LMA) and the intubating laryngeal mask (ILM) in one of five cadavers. Adequacy of ventilation was assessed on a three-point scale depending on chest expansion and air leak. Participants were also asked to intubate the trachea via the ILM. The ILM was inserted faster than the LMA (P < 0.05) with a greater pro...

1 Brandt L. The first reported oral intubation of the human trachea. Anesth Analg 1987;66:1198-9. 2 Drummond GB. Keep a clear airway. BrjAnaesth 1991;66:153-6. 3 Nandi PR, Charlesworth CH, Taylor SJ, Nunn JF, Dore CJ. Effect of general anaesthesia on the pharynx. BrjAnaesth 1991;66:57-162. 4 Hoffstein V, Zamel N. Sleep apnoea and the upper airway. BrJAnaesth 1990;65:139-50. 5 Brain AIJ. The dev...

PURPOSE Prediction of difficult tracheal intubation is not always reliable and management with fibreoptic intubation is not always successful. We describe two cases in which blind intubation through the intubating laryngeal mask airway (ILMA FasTrach) succeeded after fibreoptic intubation failed. CLINICAL FEATURES The first patient, a 50 yr old man, was scheduled for elective craniotomy for i...

Submental endotracheal intubation is a simple and secure alternative to either nasoendotracheal intubation or a tracheostomy in the airway management of maxillofacial trauma. However, a submental endotracheal intubation is quite difficult to manage if adverse events such as a tube obstruction, accidental extubation, or a leaking cuff with the endotracheal tube in the submental route occur, whic...