Evidence Hub

Gastric insufflation with and without an inserted gastric tube in second-generation laryngeal mask airways: A randomized controlled cross-over trial

Johannes Hell, Grischa Schelker, Stefan Schumann, A. Schmutz

Journal of clinical anesthesia, 2024

152 participants · 3 citations

Abstract

STUDY OBJECTIVE

Second-generation laryngeal mask airways are equipped with an additional lumen for a gastric tube, with the intention to reduce the risk of aspiration by draining gastric content. However, the effect of an inserted gastric tube through the gastric channel on gastric insufflation, a substantial part of the pathomechanism of aspiration, during positive-pressure ventilation is not clear. We hypothesized, that an inserted gastric tube increases the risk of gastric insufflation.

DESIGN

Single center, prospective, randomized-controlled cross-over trial.

SETTING

Tertiary academic hospital in Germany.

PATIENTS

152 patients, ASA I-III, scheduled for general anesthesia with a laryngeal mask airway.

INTERVENTIONS

Gastric insufflation was investigated during an incremental pressure trial up to a maximum airway pressure of 30 cmH2O and during oropharyngeal leak pressure measurement with and without an inserted gastric tube while one of two laryngeal mask airways with different cuff designs (inflatable or thermoelastic) was used.

MEASUREMENTS

Gastric insufflation was detected with real-time ultrasound.

MAIN RESULTS

Frequency of gastric insufflation was higher with than without inserted gastric tube during the incremental pressure trial (10.9 % (16/147) vs. 2.7 % (4/147), p = 0.009) and during oropharyngeal leak pressure measurement (16.3 % (24/147) vs. 5.4 % (8/147), p = 0.004). Risk of gastric insufflation didn't differ between the two cuff-types (p = 0.100). Flow over…

How strong is the evidence?

Evidence Hub reads this as a randomized trial. Its evidence level is 2 of 5 (High · randomized trial). Randomized trials of a reasonable size are the strongest single-study design. Reported size: 152 participants or records.

How the five levels of evidence work. The level is assigned automatically from the abstract and can be wrong, so check the paper.

Read the paper

Related studies

Go deeper in Evidence Hub

Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.

Open this study Sign up free