The laryngeal mask airway was invented in 1983 by British anaesthetist, Dr. Archie Brain. Laryngeal masks are used in anaesthesia and in emergency medicine for airway management.

They consist of a tube with an inflatable cuff that is inserted into the pharynx. They cause less pain and coughing than an endotracheal tube, and are much easier to insert. However, a standard laryngeal mask airway does not protect the lungs from aspiration, making them unsuitable for patients at risk for this complication.

The device is useful in situations where a patient is trapped in a sitting position, suspected of trauma to the cervical spine (where tilting the head to maintain an open airway is contraindicated), or when intubation is unsuccessful. It is not inserted as far as an endotracheal tube (it sits tightly over the top of the larynx, and thus does not need to be inserted into the trachea), and supports both spontaneous and artificial ventilation. It is popular in day case surgery.

However, unlike an endotracheal tube, a laryngeal mask cannot protect the airway or lungs from aspiration of regurgitated material, and deep (subglottic) suctioning cannot be performed through the mask. Steps to improve the ability of the laryngeal mask airway (LMA) have included recent improvements such as channels for gastric suction (LMA Proseal, LMA Supreme), and modification to the LMA to allow it to guide endotracheal tubes through its respiratory gas tubing into the larynx (ILMA - Intuabting Laryngeal Mask Airway), thus protecting the patient against aspiration of gastric contents with the balloon on the end of the endotracheal tube (LMA Fastrack, Cookgas Air-Q).

Similar to 0 things you like: